Dysthymia

[BisleyBoy]

My psych keeps mentioning this to me and has written to my gp about it, so I think he's gearing up to changing my diagnosis to this. I know what it is and I know that the best treatment is apparently a combination of medication and therapy, but has anyone else been diagnosed with this or have any experience of it?

Anyone? I hope I'm not the only one!

Hey,

I thought Dsythmia was not a symptom of depression rather than a condition in it's own right? Does it refer to a milder but long lasting depression? If so i think it can sometimes evolve into "double depression" where you have a bout of clinical depression on top of your milder ongoing depression. Either way I believe it is treated in much the same way as major clinical depression. However CBT might be recommended as an alternative to mess. Especially if you are managing work/day to day stuff.

I thought this just means low mood? Euthmic (sp?) meaning 'normal' mood.

Yes, I have it & have done since early teens, if not earlier. I saw it mentioned on here & the definition immediately clicked for me. After a second opinion I finally started ADs a year ago which made a huge difference to how I had been. I was supposed to be having psychotherapy but haven't started yet for various reasons, practically and mentally, but I will. There is an optimum time to start therapy which I believe is soon after you see an improvement from meds, which could take a while if you have to try more than one to find one that is effective for you.

Unfortunately it is one of the most resistant types of depression to treatment & from what I've found out about it, a large part of post-diagnosis is acceptance & making the most of what positives you can. If indeed it seems that you do have it that's something to work on at least & you can try the conventional treatment path.