ABSTRACT
Enthusiasm is a happy and joyous state of mind. It is a condition of high spirits—a special form of elation. Enthusiasm has some of the buoyancy of euphoria and the activity of mania, and it is obviously different from the blissful and peaceful elations. It is the author's aim to differentiate enthusiasm from other varieties of elation and to distinguish several types of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a passionate state of mind. It is exciting, active, and noisy—not quiet or passive like bliss. In this regard it resembles the hypomanias, only the activities are more realistic and adaptive. The more incongruous or bizarre the activities, the more likely that we are dealing with pathological enthusiasm or a hypomanic state. Apparently possessing such an idealized object brings with it a feeling of being joined with it, a feeling of incorporating it, identifying with it, and making it part of the self.
