Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization. In other words, cyclothymia is a type of bipolar disorder. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It's not known specifically what causes cyclothymia. This article helped me to understand my condition better. The disorder typically begins in the teenage or young adult years. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. Cyclothymic disorder closely relates to Bipolar disorder, yet is less severe. References. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Accessed April 2, 2018. Try to keep track of your moods and see if you can identify a pattern. If you’re having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, reach out for help. often evident to family and friends. affected by the shifting moods. Cyclothymia (sy-kloe-THIE-me-uh), also called cyclothymic disorder, is a rare mood disorder. Cyclothymia generally doesn't get better on its own. If you're considering suicide right now: If you just can't make that call, reach out to someone else — immediately — such as your doctor, mental health provider, family member, friend or someone in your faith community. 2015;35:19. Keep in mind that you’re gaining information and that the responses are not a personal attack on you. But true estimates are hard to pin down because people may be undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as having other mood disorders, such as depression. Picardi A, et al. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/8\/86\/Diagnose-Cyclothymic-Disorder-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Diagnose-Cyclothymic-Disorder-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/8\/86\/Diagnose-Cyclothymic-Disorder-Step-1.jpg\/aid7922289-v4-728px-Diagnose-Cyclothymic-Disorder-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"