Depression vs Dysthymia, I
Dysthymia, or dysthymic disorder is another form of depression that while seems to be less severe than major depression, it usually lasts longer. If you feel as though you’ve been depressed as long as you can remember, or that you are going in and out of depression all the time, you might want to consider looking more at these next few posts on dysthymia.
As I said before, the symptoms of dysthymia are similar to those of major depression, but those symptoms may be less intense. A poor self-image, constant pessimism, indecisiveness, difficulty concentrating, low energy, too much (or too little) sleep, increases or even decreases in appetite (and therefore weight), a lack of interest in anything as well as a low or irritable mood may be among the list of symptoms included in dysthymia. These symptoms may grow into an episode of true major depression, as well. This “double depression” can occur where you may feel depressed all the time, but still have intense episodes of major depression. This may also create a feeling of constant stress for a person. (But does that stress come from the dysthymia or does the dysthymia come from trying to cope with the stress?)
Sometimes, dysthymia may even start during childhood. It is a constant, long lasting depression unlike major depression which often occurs in episodes. People with dysthymia may also believe that this depressive personality is actually part of their character - this is who they are all the time. Because of this fact, dysthymic people may not even think to talk to someone about their depression, believing that it’s just them. However, it runs in families, and is two to three times more common in women than with men.
Can I ask ya’ll a favor, too? Would you mind promoting this site a bit? If you add me to your blog roll, I can add you back (with a little help from my bosses here. You know I’m good for the shout-outs (see a few previous entries) and it only helps me out!!
mental and emotional health, depression, dysthymia, dysthymic disorder, major depression
June 11th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Wow, thank you SO much for posting this. This is ME totally. I loved the part where you said, “People with dysthymia may also believe that this depressive personality is actually part of their character.” I think this is what makes it especially hard to identify when it becomes a problem. I tend to think, “well, I’ve always been this way. Maybe I just suck.” Arg.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:54 am
CRYS - This is a series of posts, so be sure to tune in tomorrow and the day after for even more information! I believe that I deal more with dysthymia than I do depression and so I figured that there had to be someone else out there.