dysthymia

English

Etymology

dys- +‎ -thymia From Ancient Greek δυσθυμία (dusthumía, “despondency, despair; ill-temper”), from δυσ- (dus-, “bad”) + θυμός (thumós, “soul, spirit”).

Noun

dysthymia (usually uncountable, plural dysthymias)

1. A tendency to be depressed, without hope.
2. (psychiatry) A form of clinical depression, characterized by low-grade depression which lasts at least two years.
   • 1989, James F. Masterson, Ralph Klein, editors, Psychotherapy of the Disorders of the Self: The Masterson Approach, page 369:

     For diagnostic, research, and treatment reasons, a distinction should always be made between the milder dysthymias, atypical and hysteroid depressions, and the more serious major depressive illnesses, with and without melancholic (vegetative) and psychotic features.

   • 1994, John C. Markowitz, James H. Kocsis, “Chapter 9: Dysthymia”, in Leon Grunhaus, John F. Greden, editors, Severe Depressive Disorders, page 209:

     A decade ago most psychiatrists would have been puzzled to find a chapter on dysthymia in a book about severe depressive disorders. They would have characterized this chronic form of depression as mild, "minor," or "syndromal." […] In recent years, research has demonstrated the severity, prevalence, and importance of vogorous antidepressant treatment of dysthymia, justifying its inclusion here among serious mood disorders.

   • 2007, Brian B. Doyle, Understanding and Treating Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder‎^[1], page 231:

     In other patients, the dysthymia may co-occur with but not be causally related to the ADHD (Adler and Cohen 2004). […] Early studies of adults with ADHD found rates of dysthymia as high as 67%–81% (Wender et al. 1985).

   • 2007, Jon G. Allen, Coping With Depression: From Catch-22 to Hope‎^[2], page 12:

     Dysthymia in childhood or adulthood also significantly increases the risk of developing a subsequent major depressive episode.

   • 2011, Gary Landsberg, Wayne Hunthausen, Lowell Ackerman, Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat, page 363:

     Involutive depression or bipolar dysthymias must be ruled out. […] Two characteristics of bipolar dysthymias are distinguishable: first, the bipolar disorders are cyclical in character and develop over several days to several weeks, which is quite different from the sudden and sometimes multiple changes of chronic depression; second, the productive phases of dysthymias are accompanied by a considerable decrease in the duration of sleep, to less than 6 hours per day.

Synonyms

• (tendency to be depressed): depression, despondence, dejectedness, gloom, lypemania
• (form of clinical depression): depression

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "tendency to be depressed"): euphoria
• (antonym(s) of "form of clinical depression"): euthymia

Related terms

• dysthymiac
• dysthymic
• euthymia

Translations

tendency to be depressed

• Catalan: distímia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精神抑鬱症／精神抑郁症 (jīngshén yìyùzhèng)

• Finnish: masentuneisuus (fi)
• French: dysthymie (fr) f
• German: Dysthymie (de) f
• Greek: δυσθυμία (el) f (dysthymía)
• Spanish: distimia (es) f

form of clinical depression

• Catalan: distímia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精神抑鬱症／精神抑郁症 (jīngshén yìyùzhèng)

• Czech: dystymie f
• Dutch: dysthymie (nl) f
• Finnish: dystymia, masentuneisuus (fi)
• French: dysthymie (fr) f
• German: Dysthymie (de) f
• Greek: δυσθυμία (el) f (dysthymía)
• Spanish: distimia (es) f

Further reading

• “dysthymia”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.