mania-, -mania, -maniac, -maniacal, -manic, -manically, -maniacally

(Greek: a specific mental disorder or obsessive preoccupation with something; madness, frenzy; obsession, or abnormal desire for or with something or someone; also, an excessive enthusiasm or fondness for something that is not safe or advantageous)

ablutomania (s) (noun), ablutomanias (pl)
1. An obsessional preoccupation with cleanliness, washing, or bathing, often accompanied by compulsive rituals: The doctor noticed that James had several ablutomanias which included an excessive scrubbing of his hands as well as cleansing his feet in a ritualistic manner several times each day.
2. A mental illness in which patients are driven to repeat the same act, such as washing their hands, over and over again, usually for many hours: Some compulsive disorders, as indicated in ablutomanias, are often considered to be "obsessive-compulsive psychoneuroses".

Some ablutomanias are enormously time-consuming. A woman named Beth felt compelled to wash her hands in a certain way after touching "unclean" objects, namely from fingers to wrist, from wrist to elbow, and from elbow to upper arm, and then to repeat the performance several times until her anxiety was over. As a result, Beth's hands often became painfully raw.

Arthur had ablutomanias that involved washing in a certain ritualistic order whenever he had a bath or cleaned objects. He said, "When I wash clothes or clean anything—floor, carpet, windows, and so on—I have to clean them in a specific way to make sure I do not miss anything. I can never hurry because I would not feel that it has been done properly."

Bathing starts during the day.
Bathing starts during the day.
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aboulomania, abulomania (s) (noun) (no pl)
A mental disorder in which there is a loss of will-power: The pathological indecisiveness of aboulomania is normally related to mental anguish, stress, depression, and anxiety causing the affected person to be totally unable to function socially.
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acromania (s) (noun), acromanias (pl)
One of various kinds of insanity in which agitation and overly active excitement are prominent: An obsolete or old term for a chronic incurable type of insanity is called acromania.
acronymania (s) (noun) (no pl)
A zealous or keen passion for creating acronyms: Olivia was very interested in words and she developed an acroymania trying to form as many terms as possible by combining the initial letters of a multipart name.
adipomania (s) (noun), adipomanias (pl)
An unhealthy process of putting on excessive weight or fatness by excessive eating of fat-producing foods: Many people who suffer from adipomania eat snacks, cake, cookies, sausages, deep-fried French fries, etc. in an uncontrollable way and in great quantities.
A fat man thinks he is physically well developed.
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Could this guy also have a significant obsession known as callomania, or the delusion that a person thinks he or she is "beautiful" or, in this case, physically well developed and handsome?

aedoeomania (s) (noun), aedoeomanias (pl)
Hypersexuality in females or an obsolete term for nymphomania.
aeluromania, ailuromania, eluromania (s) (noun); aeluromanias; ailuromanias; eluromanias (pl)
An absurd desire to have many cats: Aeluromania describes the ridiculous longing that some people have for cats, even some people have dozens of cats in an apartment or house!

An intense enthusiasm or abnormal love of having many cats around, sometimes even when conditions are not suitable for their existence.

Woman has an excessive fondness for cats.
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agoramania (s) (noun), agoramanias (pl)
A pathological craving to be in public places: Ever since she was a child and was not allowed to leave her room, Judy had a case of agoramania because she detested being alone by herself.
agriomania, agriothymia (s) (noun); agriomanias; agriothymias (pl)
An obsolete or out dated term for a wild, ferocious mania or insanity: Ivy read in one of her grandfather's old books about agriomania, a term used for a person who was supposed to be crazy or mad, and fierce and violent.
agromania (s) (noun) (no pl)
A strong desire or wish to live alone in a pastoral, countryside environment, in solitude, or withdrawal from society; sometimes a symptom of schizophrenia: Sam Jones wanted nothing more than to have a life of agromania, just by himself, his pet, and the influence of the countryside.
An abnormal desire to live in the open areas or in isolation from humans.
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agromaniac (noun), agromaniacs (pl)
A person who has a morbid impulse or desire to live completely alone: After years of a distressing marriage and job, Adam turned out to be an agromaniac who wanted to live in solitude or at least in in the open country away from cities and other people.
agyiomania (s) (noun), agyiomanias (pl)
1. An excessive desire to be on the streets.
2. An abnormal interest in city traffic.
aichmomania (s) (noun), aichmomanias (pl)
A morbid desire to be punctured, perforated, or pierced with pointed objects.
aidoiomania (s) (noun), aidoiomanias (pl)
An abnormal preoccupation or overly excessive thinking about sexual fantasies or activities.
alcoholomania (s) (noun), alcoholomanias (pl)
Alcoholism; an excessive desire to drink alcoholic beverages.
Drunkenness is simply voluntary insanity.
—Seneca (c. 4 BC - AD 65) Roman writer, philosopher, statesman

Quiz You can find self-scoring quizzes over many of the words in this subject area by going to this Compulsive Behavior page.

Cross references of word families that are related directly, or indirectly, to: "anger, angry; rage, wrath, fury; rave": fur-, furi-; ira-; lysso-; rab-, rav-.