Coping With Dysthymia
You have just being diagnosed with an long term illness, your life may seem as it will change forever. If that illness happens to be Dysthymia then take heart things may not be all that bad. To have the diagnosis Dysthymia is very rare in Britain, the chances are that either you have a GP who is very in tune with mental illnesses or you have become bad enough to be referred to a psychiatrist.
However take heart, the chances are that you have had Dysthymia for years possibly since childhood, take a look at the mild symptoms on our symptoms page, you may recognize these as being yourself from years back, so take heart things have not changed that much, only that your illness has become more severe but now there is a chance with help and prehaps medication there is a chance you may be able to not only get back to how you felt before but possible even better than you where before.
Mild Dysthymia is an easy condition to manage basically you can do most things that a healthy person can physically your only limitation is that you may not be able to carry on quite as long, you may need a little more sleep. Where mild Dysthymia can be a hindrance in your dealings with other people you may feel that you cannot confront situations the same as you would like to you may be nervous or anxious of new situations. It is good with Dysthymia that when you have to make decisions particularly major decisions it is good to be able to talk things over with someone as one of the symptoms of Dysthymia is making poor decisions.
 Coping with Double (Major) Depression
Double Depression is the severe end of Dysthymia, sufferers from Dysthymia are by nature prone to depression at times it can get servers. Our treatments page give some advice on where to go, however should you come through a major period of depression it usually goes after a few days or prehaps a few weeks. Depending on the severity and your circumstances it may at time include having a short time of work, try to not put yourself under any pressure and gradually this should lift. There is lots of help both on the internet and in books etc that deal with depression a lot which is relevant.
There are two problems though unique to Dysthymia. The first is that the illness can drop so gradually over a period of months and years that the sufferer does not realize they are getting ill. Its a little like going to work each morning with a bag on your back and every day somebody adds another pebble at the start its easy but as time goes on it becomes heavier and heavier but you do not notice any difference from one day to the next. If you find change in your sleep patterns, your concentration getting worse or life being harder to cope with then this may be happening to you.
The second is recurrent double depression, in other words you have one episode, get over that then a few months later you have another. This is the hardest to cope with. It may at times need life changing decisions such as giving up work in extreme cases.
 Help for Overcoming Depression
There are lots of things you can do to help with Depression, one the the simplest is go for a walk. Alternatively do something vigorous, sport, swimming, gardening, running. There is good medical reason why these things can help. Depression is a slowing down of the functions of the brain, doing vigorous exercise forces the brain to go faster the result is that it can give an instant lift to depression for a while.
On a more sedentary note, things like painting, dancing or a project can help. What is pictured is a group of courses at the Adult College at Lancaster called new directions, these are courses for people suffering from depression & mental heath problems. There are courses on art, computers etc. The course picture is the Spanish course.
In coping with Depression & Dysthymia, try to stay positive, try little by little to push out the boundaries into new areas and projects, if physically able do something vigorous, do something you enjoy.
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