by Dr Pandula Siribaddana

Created on: November 20, 2010

Dysthymia is a form of depression which can sustain for a longer duration although it manifest with milder symptoms than other form of major depressions that is prevalent in the society. Even though the condition is milder in its manifestations, it can also have a significant alteration to the behaviors, social interactions, and how the everyday activities are being carried out and the identification and treatment of this condition would be challenging as it is difficult for the patients to realize that they have a problem in the first place.

What are the symptoms of dysthymia?

The condition usually manifest during the late childhood or else in early adulthood although it can manifest even later with a lesser frequency. These individuals will be able to carry on with their work although the performance and the effectiveness in carrying out these tasks will be somewhat hindered. Thus, the children suffering from this condition will be poor in their school performance and will be backwards in activities which require interactions with other colleagues. They are said to be socially withdrawn and could become irritable and hostile more easily than others at a too frequent rate. Furthermore, they may engage in conflicts with the family and friends although it may be not something worthwhile engaging in such conflicts.

It is also common to see these patients suffering from dysthymia to complain of lack of sleep and other physiological abnormalities most probably due to the loss of regular sleep wake cycles. Although these are the major manifestations related to dysthymia, there may be other manifestations seen among these individuals as well.

How is dysthymia treated among suspected individuals?

There are several means of treating dysthymia and one aspect would be to initiate antidepressant medications. These have shown to be effective in large percentage of individuals and its effects are significant when it is compared with the effect of a placebo drug given in place of the antidepressants.

Psychotherapy will also be useful in certain groups of individuals and would be helpful in providing psychological support in instances of pain and to get rid of ideas of hopelessness which may be present among these individuals. When cognitive therapy is used, it can promote self awareness regarding the important and relatively unimportant matters in life which will enable them to accept the true nature of these problems and to avoid worrying unnecessarily over things which may not be so important to life and even for things which have to be accepted as it is.

Problem solving methods will also be a useful item in the psychotherapy schedule and will enable the person to handle life events which will maintain the depressive thoughts with better approaches and learning new coping skills and implementing it in such instances is what is expected when behavioral therapy is used for treating dysthymia.

When considering these treatment options for dythymia, it is evident that, a combination of medications along with psychotherapy and behavioral therapy would be the way to manage a patient overall and the strategies that need to be taken will differ from patient to patient depending on the severity of the symptoms and how well the individual adheres with the treatment.

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