Trillian's Depression Page
ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria for
Cyclothymic Disorder
(The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral
Disorders World Health Organization, Geneva, 1992)
F34.0 Cyclothymia
A persistent instability of mood, involving numerous periods of mild
depression and mild elation. This instability usually develops early in adult
life and pursues a chronic course, although at times the mood may be normal and
stable for months at a time. The mood swings are usually perceived by the
individual as being unrelated to life events. The diagnosis is difficult to
establish without a prolonged period of observation or an unusually good
account of the individual's past behavior. Because the mood swings are
relatively mild and the periods of mood elevation may be enjoyable, cyclothymia
frequently fails to come to medical attention. In some cases this may be
because the mood change, although present, is less prominent than cyclical
changes in activity, self-confidence, sociability, or appetitive behavior. If
required, age of onset may be specified as early (in late teenage or the
twenties) or late.
Diagnostic Guidelines
The essential feature is a persistent instability of mood, involving
numerous periods of mild depression and mild elation, none of which has been
sufficiently severe or prolonged to fulfill the criteria for bipolar affective
disorder or recurrent depressive disorder. This implies that individual
episodes of mood swings do not fulfill the criteria for any of the categories
described under manic episode or depressive episode.
Includes:
- affective personality disorder
- cycloid personality
- cyclothymic personality
Differential Diagnosis:
This disorder is common in the relatives of patients with bipolar affective
disorder and some individuals with cyclothymia eventually develop bipolar
affective disorder themselves. It may persist throughout adult life, cease
temporarily or permanently, or develop into more severe mood swings meeting the
criteria for bipolar affective disorder or recurrent depressive disorder.
ICD-10 copyright © 1992 by World Health Organization
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