Cylcothymia is DSM-defined as a mild version of bp, but a lot of people also consider cyclothymic cycling to be faster than bipolar cycling. That is the sense in which I meant it in my earlier post. You are right though that, technically, cyclothymia is "bipolar lite" in how acute the symptoms are. (Less severe? Cyclothymia's chronic nature makes it a nasty illness. Who are we to say that shorter periods of intense suffering are worse than longer periods of mild-moderate suffering?) It is just like dysthymia. It can occur alone, as a "minor" mood disorder, or with co-morbid major depression.