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Hey, everybody.

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Today, we’re gonna talk about cyclothymia.

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What is this weird word?
What does it mean?

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So like I said, today, we’re gonna talk
about cyclothymia.

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What is cyclothymia?
Why is that such a strange word?

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Well, once I get talking to you about it,
you’ll understand why it sounds like

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“cycle”, “cyclothymia” . So, cyclothymia
falls under the bipolar disorder—

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or falls into the bipolar-disorder bucket.
I like a bucket. That sounds better.

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So it falls into that category. And I’ve
heard from many of you that you struggle

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with this, and you wanted me to talk
about it a little bit more.

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So what I’m going to go over today is
number one, what is cyclothymia?

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How do we diagnose it? And then, what are
the medication and treatment options

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that we have?

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And that’s it. We get in and get out.

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Are you ready? Are you with me?

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Let’s get started.

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Cyclothymia must occur for at least two
years in adults, one year in children

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and adolescents. So, yes, if you’re an
adolescent, you can still be diagnosed

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with cyclothymia. Now, the reason that they
call it cyclothymia—if you remember my old

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video where I talked about bipolar
disorder on a whiteboard like a teacher,

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like follow along as I tell you why this
is called this, that will make it—

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if you haven’t watched that, watch that,
’cause that will make this so

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much more clear.

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So, cyclothymia, there must have been
numerous periods of hypomanic episodes,

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meeting the criteria for hypomania.

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If you wonder what hypomania is, come
watch my bipolar II video, where I explain

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what that is.

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So here is hypomania. We’re on that
whiteboard again.

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So hypomania is here; mania will be up
here.

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Then, we’re kind of in the middle, like
“Hey, just hanging out”, and then, we get

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into kind of dysthymia. I have a video
about that as well.

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I have a lot of videos. If you have
questions, just search the word I’m

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talking about, Kati Morton, and it will
probably come up.

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So I have a video about dysthymia, and
then down here on the bottom, we have

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a major depressive episode, which I also
explain in my bipolar II video.

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So, with cyclothymia, we don’t reach
mania: we only reach hypomania.

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So, we’ve hit it, but we don’t go above.
We just stay here.

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And then depression is all the way down
here, MDD.

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We don’t hit that either. We hit
dysthymia, that low-grade depression

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that can last for a long time, hence,
why it says this must last for at least

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two years.

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Got it?

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So we fall in this kind of middle yet
still uncomfortable realm of highs and

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lows.

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Never major, major highs or
major, major lows,

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we kind of flow in and out.
And that’s also why this goes undiagnosed

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all the time, because for a lot of people,
it’s “somewhat” manageable.

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And I use quotes because it’s still
not good, but we can kind of tolerate it,

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okay?

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So that’s how we diagnose it.

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I think it’s important to note you don’t
meet the criteria for MDD but you meet

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the full criteria for hypomania, okay? 
So we’re going from hypomania to dysthymia.

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And I want to also note, and I’m just
reading from what I wrote down here,

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that if you also meet the criteria for
borderline personality disorder,

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that’s fine. You can have both.
They can happen simultaneously.

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And this is often comorbid, meaning
happening at the same time, with drug and

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alcohol abuse, because like I said, people
“tolerate” it okay. They do “okay”,

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but they usually self-medicate. And so
it’s often that we find people with

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cyclothymia struggle also with alcohol and
drug abuse, okay?

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So that’s what it is.
That’s how long it has to last.

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And that’s kind of what it feels like.

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What are our options?
So, okay, we have this.

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So, as all bipolar-disorder things, I’ve
talked about medication.

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[hissing], I know. I already feel your
anger and frustation that you’ll probably

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leave in the comments about, like, “Why
do you always say medication?”

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Medication can be so incredibly helpful.

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It’s not for everybody, but it’s
definitely something for people who

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struggle with this can be really, really
beneficial.

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And the medications that they recommend—
obviously, I’m not a doctor.

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You have to see a doctor for this.
But they recommend mood stabilizers.

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Wow, say that five times fast.

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Mood stabilizers or
antipsychotic medication.

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Now, the reason that they give you these
is because obviously,

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we’re floating in between. We’re all over.
We feel up and down and all around.

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And mood stabilizers does just that;
it works to stabilize our mood.

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And antipsychotic medications also help
with that as well,

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and so talk to your doctor if medication
is something that you’re looking into.

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And also, they recommend psychotherapy.

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That’s me. Hey.

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We do therapy. And CBT, they find, to be
the best because there are a lot

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of behavioral things that you can do to
help yourself better manage the symptoms.

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They obviously recommend psychotherapy and
medication together.

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It’s like, with our powers combined, we
can rule the world.

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You remember like heart—no one wanted to
heart—but it was like water, air—

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Anyway, those are best combined.

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So, see a therapist, and see a
psychiatrist so you can get all the

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help you need.

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And like I said, CBT is the best.

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They also recommend—and this is something
I don’t do, so don’t ask me to do a video

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on it ’cause this isn’t a type of therapy
I do.

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But it’s called IPSRT, interpersonal and
social rhythm therapy.

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They say this helps us get into a
more-consistent schedule, like a rhythm,

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of sleep, wake, eating, et cetera. And
that helps better manage your symptoms

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as well.

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I hope you found this helpful.

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And that’s what cyclothymia is.

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And if you haven’t checked out my other
videos about bipolar disorder,

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that will definitely help this make even
more sense.

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You’ll have an even-bigger picture of
what’s going on.

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And don’t forget to subscribe to this
video.

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And if you like these kinds of structured,
what-is-it, how-can-we-help-ourselves,

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give us a thumbs up.

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And leave your comments below.

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If you have experience with this—
we’re a community.

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We work together. We share our comments
and our experiences.

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And that’s wonderful and helpful
and amazing.

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And I will see y’all next time.

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—Cut

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Go right here with your hands.
How far is the box?

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I actually have to think about it.
It’s actually very difficult.

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[laughs] And I don’t want to mess up my
hair.

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That’s why the pat goes on top, so you
have to think about it again to

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— [inaudible]
No, no, it’s too much. I gotta focus

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on cyclothymia. Stop trying to trick me.
[whispers] tricky, tricky.