Dysthymic Disorder is a type of Depression which is chronic and long lasting mental illness. It affects 3% of people. The word chronic means that a person suffering from this type of depression gets it back after a particular period of time, again and again. Though the symptoms of this depression are mild, 75% of its patients get addicted to alcohol, drugs and anxiety. People belonging to a family of this depression in past are 50% likely of getting this depression. This article tries to further insight on this type of mental illness.

Symptoms of Dysthymic Disorder: The knowledge of the symptoms are based on observation. It is because the exact causes of this disorder are not known yet. A person can be called suffering from this type of depression if he experiences more than 2 of the following signs for two years. They are:

• Sense of Hopelessness
• Food disorder
• Sleep disorder
• Inability to concentrate
• Inability to make decisions
• Tiredness
• Low self image

Life with Dysthymic Disorder: There is a possibility that these symptoms are shown in varying degrees. Then Dysthymic disorder becomes a major depression. Such a condition is called double depression. As this disorder reappears time and again, the person accepts it as part of his personality by mistake. This mostly ends the possibility of the disorder ever been diagnosed or treated in near future.

Women are 2-3 times more likely to get affected by this depression than in men. Once a person gets it, this depression also has the tendency of running in the family’s future generations. During this depression, the patient complaints of being in constant stress. This makes difficult for the doctor to find out whether the stress is caused due to Dysthymic disorder or other factors of stress.

Facts about Dysthymic Disorder: Doctors follow the guidelines of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association to treat mental illness in United States. According to this manual:

• During the two years of being affected, the Dysthymic disorder patient remains in the state of depression for most of the day.
• In this phase, the symptoms of depression are not absent longer than 2 back to back months.
• The patient is not excessively happy, sad or show a mixed state of these emotions during these two years.
• Medicines play no role in getting the symptoms.
• This depression do not make the patient disabled in their personal, social or professional life.

Treatment of Dysthymic Disorder: Antidepressants like fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), escitalopram (Lexapro), paroxetine (Paxil), and citalopram (Celexa) are given by the doctor to treat this disorder if felt necessary. But there are side effects associated with the use of these medicines. The patients taking these antidepressants suffer from lack of sleep, sexual disabilities, memory loss and vomiting sensation. Techniques like psychotherapy and unconditional love and support from the family members of the patient goes a long way in treating this mental disorder.