What is Cyclothymia?

You may not have heard the term cyclothymia, but it is a mood disorder. Cyclothymia is a form of bipolar disorder. How is it differentiated from other forms of bipolar disorder, and exactly what is cyclothymia?

Bipolar disorder is diagnosed when a person experiences phases of very high moods and very low moods within a certain period of time. The most drastic highs and lows occur with Bipolar I. Bipolar II moods do not get quite as high and low as in Bipolar I.

Cyclothymia, or cyclothymic disorder, is a mild form of bipolar disorder. There are periods of elation and periods of sadness which occur for no apparent reason. The high phases are experienced as hypomania and the lower phases as mild depression, and these alternating phases must be present for more than two years to get a diagnosis of cyclothymia. In fact, there won't be a break from symptoms for more than two months in a row in regards to cyclothymia.

Cyclothymia can develop into bipolar disorder if left untreated, but this is in less than half the cases. Most times, the symptoms can be alleviated and the disorder itself may even go away over time.

The trouble with treatment is getting the medication and dosage correct. Many times cyclothymia will not respond to traditional bipolar treatments. Sometimes counseling is effective in itself to tech life coping skills for this mood disorder.

Often times, antidepressants will be too much for someone with cyclothymia and could induce a manic episode. Adding a mood stabilizer could help with this. Mood stabilizers or antiseizure medications can be used alone to level out the moods and keep them from going too high or too low.

What is cyclothymia? It is a mild form of bipolar disorder that could turn into full-blown bipolar disorder if not treated or the symptoms dealt with. If you suspect cyclothymia, please speak with your physician or a counselor.

SOURCE:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002517/