Cyclothemic Depression
The most uneven group of manic-depressives are called Cylothymes. Their highs and lows only last a few days or weeks. They start something with great enthusiam but don't complete it. They move from place to place. They attach themselves to various movements, then become disillusioned. They may get great poetic inspirations, then dry up for weeks. They have an uneven work record, but during thier productive times, they can achieve remarkable things. This group represents a vast group of people whose deviations in temperment are often thought, mistakenly, to be personality or character disorders. Their fluctuations are different from the normal shifts in mood that most people have, in that they are more intense and more frequent. "Most people don't go that deep or that high from day to day, or week to week," says Dr. Akiskal. "And they don't lose their judgement." The most extreme cyclothymes are called "rapid cyclers," with mood changes colliding with each other, from month to month, from day to day, or sometimes even within the same day. They might bounce from euphoria to despair and back again within hours. While many people are rapid cyclers from the start, others, over time, "mature" into that form of the disorder.