People with cyclothymic disorder have continuous mood cycles that are usually briefer and less severe than those characteristics of bipolar I or II disorders.
To be diagnosed as suffering from cyclothymic disorder, patients need to exhibit these dramatic fluctuations for at least two years.
Children and adolescents can be classified as cyclothymic after only one year, however.
Patients with cyclothymic disorder may constitute from 3 to 5 percent of all psychiatric outpatients, perhaps particularly those with significant complaints about marital and interpersonal difficulties.
Cyclothymic disorder, like other mood disorders, usually begins in late adolescence or early adulthood and without treatment, tends to have a chronic course, with no significant symptom-free period.
Cyclothymic depressions symptoms such as sadness, anhedonia, low energy, pessimism, poor concentration and sleep and appetite changes resembling those observed in episodes of major depression. Cyclothymic disorder can present as predominantly depressed predominantly hypomanic or balanced with approximately equal proportions of high and low periods.
Most patients with cyclothymic disorder seen by psychiatrics have not succeeded in their professional and social lives as a result of their disorder, but a few have become high achievers who have worked especially long hours and have required little sleep.
Cyclothymic disorder
