This is an interesting post on Cyclothymic Personality Type. For fear of going over old coals again on here my concern is that I definately have many borderline traits and had my BP diagnosis changed to BPD. What I also have extremely strongly that is not BPD are a number of what are listed below:

Decreased need for sleep plus hypersomnia
Periods of sharp creative thinking followed by mental apathy
Shaky self esteem - overconfidence followed by total lack of confidence
Changes in productivity etc
Irritable-angry-explosive outbursts

The rest I have had pretty much all as a trait to some degree and still have.

The question I really have is that when my 4 year psychotherapy ends in 12 months if I am still having the below and the BPD elements have eased or I cannot function in work, relationships etc the way I want I am really going to have a look at trying medication again and a rediagnosis.

PTypes Personality Types proposes Cyclothymic Personality Disorder as a pervasive pattern of pronounced periodic changes in mood, behavior, thinking, sleep, and energy levels, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by seven (or more) of the following:

• has depressive periods: depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities and pastimes alternating with hypomanic periods: elevated, expansive, or irritable mood (American Psychiatric Association, 1980, pg. 220);
• becomes excessively involved in pleasurable activities with lack of concern for the high potential of painful consequences alternating with restriction of involvement in pleasurable activities and guilt over past activities (pg. 220);
• alternates between over-optimism or exaggeration of past achievement and a pessimistic attitude toward the future, or brooding about past events (pg. 220);
• is more talkative than usual, with inappropriate laughing, joking, and punning: and, then, less talkative, with tearfulness or crying (pg. 220);
• has a decreased need for sleep alternating with hypersomnia (Akiskal, Khani, and Scott-Strauss qtd. in Jamison, pg. 264); 1
• has shaky self-esteem: naive grandiose overconfidence alternating with lack of self-confidence (pg. 264);
• has periods of sharpened and creative thinking alternating with periods of mental confusion and apathy (pg. 264);
• displays marked unevenness in the quantity and quality of productivity, often associated with unusual working hours (pg. 264);
• engages in uninhibited people-seeking (that may lead to hyper-sexuality) alternating with introverted self-absorption (pg. 264);
• frequently shifts line of work, study, interest, or future plans (pg. 264);
• engages in occasional financial extravagance (pg. 264);
• has a tendency toward promiscuity, with repeated conjugal or romantic failure (pg. 264);
• may use alcohol or drugs to control moods or to augment excitement (pg. 264);
• has irritable-angry-explosive outbursts that alienate loved ones (pg. 264);
• makes frequent changes in residence or geographical location (Akiskal, 1995, pg. 1143).