According to the official US definition as outlined in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, Cyclothymic Disorder - also called Cyclothymia - is "a chronic, fluctuating mood disturbance involving numerous periods of hypomanic symptoms and numerous periods of depressive symptoms." Simply translated, this means it is a long-term condition where the person's moods cycle between hypomania - a "high" that can be mild to fairly severe but does not include delusions, hallucinations or other psychotic features - and depression, also mild to fairly severe but not incapacitating or suicidal.
Here's what goes into a diagnosis of Cyclothymia:
- Symptoms do not qualify as Major Manic or Major Depressive Episodes;
- Symptoms never ease up for more than two months;
- There hasn't been a Manic, Mixed or Depressive Episode in the first two years of symptoms;
- Another disorder is not responsible for symptoms; and
- Symptoms are not caused by a drug or general medical condition.
See also
Cyclothymia.
