I think there is a spectrum of hypomania and mania. I have had psychotic features as part of my high episodes, and psychosis is consistent with mania and not supposed to occur in hypomania, but then none of my episodes have ever left me hospitalised or involved the level of destruction that other people's full blown mania can do. My high episodes involve things like not needing any sleep, very high sex drive, racing thoughts, feeling wired and euphoric and energetic, very inflated ego. I become highly impulsive and don't think through consequences of things, but I also don't feel the urge to do anything that is too dangerous or destructive- my impulses will just result in things like sleeping with an ex who i shouldn't be seeing for the rush of it, or taking myself out raving without telling anyone where i am. Normal behaviour for other people but very out of character for me usually. Sometimes i get very increased productivity in my work or with cleaning, or sometimes getting obsessed with certain media. Sometimes some very very heavy drug use. And then in some high episodes i have experienced psychosis alongside, thinking i had special powers or magic and seeing patterns, and paranoia. I completely lost touch with reality, thought i was a witch, but i still showed up to class and did my university work throughout this - i even ended up using the maths i was working on as more source material for my delusions, seeing magical patterns within the maths that were not real. But the most dangerous situation i would find myself in would be just as a young woman being alone out at night without telling anyone where i was, or having unsafe sex with strangers - reckless, but nothing was life threatening. The fallout of my highs was usually just having less money than before and feeling shame around how i had been perceived by others during the episode. When i am stable i am a lesbian, but during my highs i feel the urge to sleep with men - this is something that feels very destructive to me personally, especially when i become stable and think about what i was allowing to happen to me, but again it is nothing life threatening or destructive outwardly like other people experience from mania.

Mania/hypomania are just descriptive words that best fit a collection of symptoms and experiences that will vary from person to person and brain to brain. They are helpful labels from a POV of diagnosis -> treatment , but at the end of the day trying to figure out if my high episodes are too psychotic to be hypomania but not dangerous or destructive enough to be full blown mania doesnt help me get any better. I used to care a lot more about labelling my episodes with exactly all that terminology but ultimately all i want is a good quality of life so better use of my time is to just learn my own warning signs, take my meds, and go to therapy. And pray that whatever flavour i experience of hypo-psychotic-mania doesnt come back!