Everyone feels discouraged at certain times in life, it is normal that we sometimes feel sad. We live certain situations, often necessary to react and seek new paths in our lives or to overcome unpleasant events.
Now imagine that this discouragement has been present in your life for more than two years, it is not difficult to see the discomfort that someone who feels like this can feel, this is what happens when dysthymia appears, read on to learn more!
- “I’m very sad and I feel more unhappy than I can say.
- And I don’t know how far away I am?I don’t know what to do or what to think.
- But do I want to leave this place?I feel so”.
- Sad!??Vincent Van Gogh?.
Dysthymia occurs when a person has been depressed for at least two years, observation can be made by those with the disorder or perceived by those around them, but even if they are similar, dysthymia is not the same as depression.
In these cases, at least in the last two years, there have not been more than two months in which the person has not experienced at least two of the following symptoms: loss or increase in appetite, insomnia or excessive sleepiness, lack of energy or fatigue. , low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, or feelings of anxiety and despair.
As we see, people with dysthymia may not have as many symptoms and may not be as severe as those with depression; However, there is another problem: it is very persistent and lasts longer, people with dysthymia are always sad and if there is no proper psychological treatment, it can become a more serious depressive disorder.
“Melancholy is a sadness, a desire without pain, similar to sadness, in the same way that fog looks like rain. ” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?
In addition, other psychopathologies may occur and therapy is necessary because dysthymia causes a lot of discomfort in the patient, as a result, the quality of life of these people is affected, which greatly influences their psychological suffering in various areas.
With everything we’ve said so far, you have to ask yourself, isn’t dysthymia the same as depression? The answer is no, although it is true that they have certain characteristics in common that can leave us perplexed.
In fact, depressed people also have a depressive mood almost all day and almost every day, this also happens in dysthymia, as the patient himself or the people who live with him can perceive it, the difference is that to characterize depression symptoms must persist for at least two weeks, and in dysthymia, they must be present for two years or more.
“And in this hesitation between courage and agony, full of pain that I cannot bear, do you not hear the drops of my sadness fall?Ruben Darius?”
Other common symptoms would be sleep problems, increased or loss of appetite (although in depression there can be a significant weight change without a special diet for it), fatigue (in depression, this is a persistent loss of energy) and difficulty in concentrating or concentrating, making decisions (accompanied by a persistent decrease in the ability to think).
As we see, in the similarities there are nuances that create differences, it should be added that in the depression you notice the loss or decrease of interest or pleasure for all or almost all of the activities of the person, this happens every day most of the time. time, but there’s more.
Other symptoms also appear, such as agitation or psychomotor delay, feelings of futility or guilt, excessive or inadequate recurrent thoughts and ideas of death or suicide, and attempts and plans to achieve them, we do not see all this in dysthymia, only in depression, what is common in both cases is the wear and tear they cause in those who suffer from it, highlighting the need to seek help to get out of this situation.
Images courtesy of Xavier Sotomayor, Priscilla du Preez and Patryck Sobczak.