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Cyclothymia is neither bipolar depression nor unipolar depression but instead it is an illness that lies somewhere in the middle.
When psychiatric illnesses first started being recognized, some doctors felt that unipolar and bipolar depressions weren’t really the binary options for an illness but really just opposite ends of a spectrum. So then, one would have a spectrum where one could be a 100% bipolar depressive, or 100% unipolar depressive or they could lay somewhere in the middle. However, as illnesses need names and diagnostic criteria and not really vague percentages, bipolar and unipolar depression were defined separately.
Bipolar 2 though, is recognition of this false dichotomy. Bipolar 2 really sits in between unipolar and bipolar depression as more depressed than bipolar 1 but more hypomanic (emotionally dysregulatory) than unipolar depression. (See the difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 disorders.)
And that’s fine as far as it goes. But there is also recognition from a lot of doctors that other states lie even more in the middle, and cyclothymia is one such disorder.
Cyclothymia can be thought of as bipolar light. Cyclothymia contains hypomanic moods and moods that are depressive but do not meet the criteria for major depressive disorder. Cyclothymia is more common in women than men (as with rapid cycling bipolar disorder).
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), cyclothymia is:
Cyclothymia may also appear with other mental illnesses like anxiety disorder.
Like with bipolar disorder or major depression cyclothymia can be treated with medications and other therapies. Typical medication treatments for cyclothymia include:
Therapies for cyclothymia include:
Just because the symptoms of cyclothymia are not as severe as bipolar disorder or major depression does not mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously.
There is a concern that cyclothymia can turn into full-blown bipolar disorder if left untreated and it may increase the risk of suicide.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
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In a quest to overcome unwanted feelings I wrote this poem.
http://bipolarpeople.blogspot.com/2018/09/who-are-we.html
Maybe I missed one of your topics that discuss how bipolar and any of its variants affects our behavior.
While its obvious to me that we change with mood changes, is there clinical evidence that determines
what behaviors are the result of bipolar? I’m sure this is an obvious question. Each of us responds in
our own way to the dictates of our brain. The results are both positive and negative with different degrees
of variation.
Now see…You really do learn something new everyday!
Those are the good days, yes :) And really, most of my days – you’d be amazed at how much I have to learn for my job.
– Natasha Tracy
Thanks for highlighting the other end of the spectrum! Just wanted to add that the type of depression often experienced in the context of cyclothymia is dysthymia. As you say the symptoms are not as severe as the other variations of bipolar but the condition is equally as chronic. CBT and quetiapine turned things around for me :)
Hi Skully,
Glad to hear you found treatment that works for you. Hopefully you’ll never see any worsening symptoms. :)
– Natasha Tracy