by Teena Kay

Created on: June 15, 2010   Last Updated: June 19, 2010

When you are diagnosed with arthritis, don't you want to know more about what type of arthritis? After all, there are so many different forms of arthritis and they should not all be lumped together into one diagnosis as that would be wrong, wouldn't it?

When you are diagnosed with cancer, don't you want to know what kind as there are so many and your chances of recovery? Not all cancers a the same.

The same is true when it comes stress, anxiety and depression. We all occasionally suffer stress and even anxiety. There is good stress that makes us achieve more in work and every day life. Then there is bad stress, the one that makes us worry more and more, the one that lets us forget to think happy thoughts and makes us see everything in shades of grey to black.

What is depression?

Everyone feels down and a little 'blue' from time to time. That's not depression. What is depression is when the feeling a 'little blue' and 'down in the dumps' does not go away, in fact it gets worse.

Depression is a mental illness, a mood disorder whereby emotional moods are negatively distorted and not appropriate to the situation the person finds him or herself in.

There are two major types of depression, uni-polar and bi-polar.

In the uni-polar spectrum you will find amongst others:

* Major depression or clinical depression, including chronic (recurring) major depression and psychotic depression.
* Post Partum depression or postnatal depression
* SAD or Seasonal affected disorder
* Dysthymia or chronic mild depression
* Minor depression

Uni-polar depression often overlaps with other symptoms like anxiety or panic attacks.

There is of course also the bi-polar disorder spectrum (formerly known as manic depression) characterized by episodes of extreme mania followed by major depression.

There is no way that one review can cover all kinds of depression, or talk about experiences. This is why I decided to concentrate mainly on the one form of depression I, as a sufferer, know most about: '''Dysthymia''' also known as chronic sub-clinical or mild depression.

What is Dysthymia

Dysthymia is a mood disorder that falls within the depression spectrum. It is considered a chronic depression, but with less severity than a major depression. It tends to be a chronic, long-lasting illness, often not even diagnosed in patients for 20 years or more. Patients suffering often come to terms with it, thinking that's just the way they are, there is nothing that can be done about it.

Only in the 1980s did the term Dysthymia

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