How is dysthymic disorder different from normal sadness or unhappiness?Answered by:David Hellerstein
Any sort of normal life loss, or transition, or stress may be accompanied by a few weeks of low mood. This is what psychiatrists call an “adjustment reaction with depressed mood.” Generally things improve after a few weeks to months.
In contrast, the person with DD remains depressed for years, even decades. This is not “normal sadness or unhappiness”—it is an illness!
David J. Hellerstein, MD
Director of Medical Communications, Columbia U. Department of Psychiatry
Dr. David J. Hellerstein is Director of Medical Communications at the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. He is a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He was formerly the Clinical Director of the Institute. He specializes in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, with a particular focus on the medication treatment of dysthymia, or low-grade chronic depression.
