What is Cyclothymia and how do we treat it? Mental Health with Kati Morton

Hey, everybody.

Today, we’re gonna talk about cyclothymia.

What is this weird word?
What does it mean?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that we have?

And that’s it. We get in and get out.

Are you ready? Are you with me?

Let’s get started.

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

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

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

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

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

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

much more clear.

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

meeting the criteria for hypomania.

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

what that is.

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

So hypomania is here; mania will be up
here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

two years.

Got it?

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

lows.

Never major, major highs or
major, major lows,

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

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

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

okay?

So that’s how we diagnose it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

cyclothymia struggle also with alcohol and
drug abuse, okay?

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

And that’s kind of what it feels like.

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

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

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

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

Medication can be so incredibly helpful.

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

struggle with this can be really, really
beneficial.

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

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

Wow, say that five times fast.

Mood stabilizers or
antipsychotic medication.

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

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

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

And antipsychotic medications also help
with that as well,

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

And also, they recommend psychotherapy.

That’s me. Hey.

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

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

They obviously recommend psychotherapy and
medication together.

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

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

Anyway, those are best combined.

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

help you need.

And like I said, CBT is the best.

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

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

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

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

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

as well.

I hope you found this helpful.

And that’s what cyclothymia is.

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

that will definitely help this make even
more sense.

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

And don’t forget to subscribe to this
video.

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

give us a thumbs up.

And leave your comments below.

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

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

And that’s wonderful and helpful
and amazing.

And I will see y’all next time.

—Cut

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

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

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

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

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

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