Persistent depressive disorder: definition, symptoms and treatment

  • Jul 26, 2021
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Persistent depressive disorder: definition, symptoms and treatment

The depressive disorders They are characterized by the fact that the person who suffers from any of them, experiences mainly sadness sufficiently intense and long-lasting that it prevents you from working properly in one or more areas of your lifetime.

Among the different types of depressive disorders that exist, is persistent depressive disorder. To this type of disorder it is also known as dysthymia and it is said that people who suffer from it have the feeling that their whole life they have been in a low mood. In this article from Psychology-Online: Persistent depressive disorder: definition, symptoms and treatment, We are going to explain in detail everything related to this condition.

Persistent depressive disorder, or dysthymia, is a depressive disorder of the mood chronic type in which the person continuously experiences low moods which interfere with their normal functioning throughout the day.

Dysthymia according to DSM-V

For a person to be diagnosed with a persistent depressive disorder or dysthymia, they must have suffered a series of

symptoms related to this condition (constant sadness, having lost the pleasure of doing the activities that you previously enjoyed or you have simply lost interest in doing new activities, among others) for at least two years in a row.

Usually dysthymia or persistent depressive disorder begins in adolescence And if not treated properly, it can last for many years. The symptoms associated with this type of disorder are not actually as severe as those of a major depressionHowever, due to its long duration and the constancy with which it occurs, it is equally important to start eradicating it as soon as possible.

Anxious dysthymia and other diseases

It is common for people who suffer from this disorder to also suffer from an anxiety problem, substance abuse or alternate with some type of personality disorder. Usually, people with persistent depressive disorder tend to be all the time with a negative, pessimistic, passive attitude, have lost their sense of humor, are extremely introverted, criticize themselves in a destructive way and are often complaining about everything the time of their situation and external situations, that is, they see everything "black" and they always perceive problems and difficulties to their around.

Persistent depressive disorder: definition, symptoms and treatment - Persistent depressive disorder: definition

As mentioned above, for a person to be diagnosed with a disorder persistent depressive or dysthymia, you must have had a series of symptoms for at least 2 years. Among the main symptoms that refer to this disease are the following:

  • Feelings of hopelessness The person has low moods most of the time and feels that his situation never She is going to get better, that she will never be able to feel good and get ahead, that she is condemned to live that way, etc.
  • Changes in appetite You can feel excessively hungry or, on the contrary, experience a deliberate lack of appetite.
  • Fatigue. The person feels all the time with very little energy, which is a great limitation when it comes to wanting to carry out even their daily activities.
  • Low self-esteem. You have a poor self-concept about yourself and you do not recognize your own value.
  • Lack of concentration. There is great difficulty in concentrating, which is usually quite frustrating for the person since they stop trusting them at the same time itself, this increases the deterioration of their self-esteem and self-concept and can bring other types of problems such as difficulty in taking their own decisions.
  • Sleeping problems. Often there are disturbances in sleep, so that the person may sleep too much or on the contrary, not be able to fall asleep and sleep too little.
Persistent Depressive Disorder: Definition, Symptoms and Treatment - Symptoms of Dysthymia

It is necessary that in order to treat this condition, the person receives a psychological treatment that can sometimes go in combination with a pharmacological one. This depends on the individual situation of each person, whether or not he is dealing with other types of disorders and with which ones.

Dysthymia: test and scales

First of all, special care will be taken in the process of evaluation and diagnosis of the disorder since it can be confused with another. After having a thorough diagnosis, the therapeutic intervention begins. To make the assessment, many experts choose to use the beck's depression test.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for dysthymia

In general, the treatment to be followed is as follows:

The therapy that has been shown to have the best results for this type of condition is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and in it what is usually worked first is with psychoeducation, which is the part where the patient is informed in a way Detailed information about this condition, it explains what its possible origins are, the duration, how it is affecting you, etc.

It also works with the cognitive restructuring which aims to detect those irrational beliefs and thoughts that the person and that they are influencing her emotions to replace them with more positive and rational. If the patient also presents with anxiety (which happens in most cases), the origins of this and some tools are provided such as exercises for reducing stress and anxiety and meditation. Tools such as behavioral activation are also provided so that they can cope with the episodes depressive, they are taught healthy habits and finally they are offered strategies for the prevention of relapses.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Persistent depressive disorder: definition, symptoms and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

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