Everything you wanted to know about DYSTHYMIA (Persistent Depressive Disorder) 

The best thing I've heard about dysthymia is that is "steals your life". It did mine.

I got help. Nothing changed. I've had 7 therapists. 4 meds. Gave up alcohol (I was never a big drinker). Gave up refined sugar. Got fit. Surrounded myself with amazing friends. 15 years later I still feel the same. Not sure how much longer I can continue.

I was diagnosed with PDD almost a year ago. I'm only 22 and I don't really remember ever not having been depressed. When I was a teenager, I was distinctly aware that I needed professional help but was scared of getting treatment. I can't really explain it but I had already struggled with depression for years and it became...well, everything. I thought it became me. I was scared of how I would change through treatment and even more so of the possibility that I could not change because this was just how I was. I couldn't distinguish between the depression and myself. It's very hard to explain. And although treatment has been a rocky road to say the least, I can honestly say that simply having made the decision to get help has taken a massive weight off of my shoulders and given me hope. Thank you for spreading awareness!

I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and truly never thought I had it because I never had that “invincible” feeling. It was more so I felt better on a certain day or tried to compensate for feeling so low and tried masking what I was feeling, momentarily. Thank God I didn’t truly listen to the last psych. He wouldn’t let me speak, didn’t allow me to go into my childhood and kept cutting me off and making assumptions. My psych now was very thorough and let me speak and we spoke about my childhood and my moods and he said I am in anxious distress and have persistent depressive disorder. So glad I found a good psych that cared to be thorough and let me speak, to give a proper diagnosis

I think the one hard thing about this disorder is that it keeps you secluded. You don't have a desire to have friend's or be involved in a relationship because you would have to either conceal or explain in great detail why you are the way you are which in turn is extremely exhausting. The disease itself is exhausting but explaining it can be very troublesome.

This is absolutely me. I’m so tired from fighting and pushing through. Thank you for this. ❤️

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, just diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder last week, and educating myself more about it.

“It’s just a feeling. You are not your mental illness.” Thank you so much, Dr ! :)

Therapy is so damn expensive. I know it’s their job and they need to make money, but it feels like I have a price on my head, and that’s the therapists main concern rather than me. I don’t want to go to therapy. I need it but i don’t want to go.

I've been diagnosed with disthymia over a year ago and I've I'd for about 4 or 5 years now.. If not longer.. I started crying when you read the symptoms out loud, because it hurt me to see how much I suffer. I often try to think that I'm just overreacting but it's not just in my head. I also am dealing with depression for years now. I like to educate myself on these topics, so I can maybe help myself (I'm also in therapy tho) .. To anyone who struggles with a mental disorder, I wish you the best in the world cause u deserve it. We all deserve happiness.. One day hopefully

"Get to therapyst"... I'm 37. I was diagnosed less than a week ago with PDD. And discovered, that in my town (a large one) there are just few therapists, who are capable to work with such disorder. And they are EXTREMELY expensive.

As someone with PDD I'm glad there are more folks like you making content to expand on this topic from a medical perspective. Keep it up, dude :-)

I lost my mom at 18, I'm now 57 and still cry when I speak about her. Been twice to see her grave and cried so hysterically I decided to stop going, it was just too painful. When she got buried I kept hearing her screaming let me out. Now at 57 I've given up expecting it to get better, just living with it.

3:56 exaccctlllllyyy It's one thing to have a physical problem that you can deal with, and having a mental disorder that effects the emotional parts in your brain that are responsible for interpreting lots of things in our world; it's like a computational unit.

Just wanted to add something as I am an adult that is going through treatment of this and slowly getting better. It is a daunting task to get treatment for this and even more daunting if you are like me and can't ever remember not having had these symptoms. I think my therapist and I traced it back to my mid teens and I am now 40. When getting the treatment you don't only have to "heal" so to speak, but you are actually discovering who you really are which can be a frightening thing. You are putting the person you were behind you to make room for someone you don't really know and this is why it is very easy to slip back into old thought patterns and behaviour. I've been told that it's a "mild form of depression" by many professionals but honestly I think major depressive episodes are much easier to treat and I know they are much more visible. You literally have to treat something that has become a part of the personality rather than an episode that someone goes through.

I’ve been trying to learn more about this because councilors keep telling me that I might have this. I’m only 15 and I feel really numb, irritable, fatigued, hopeless, and just indifferent about life. I also tend to overeat, I have insomnia, and I have frequent headaches. I also socially isolate from others.

2:11 ohh this is really a big problem for me. Whenever I think of visiting a doctor, I don't know what i want to talk about! Its like I have gone blank, and there is nothing really I can describe.

all i want in life is to be good enough at my field to be this eloquent. flattery aside, i have my exams in a few days and I'm watching your videos to revise my concepts ...thank you.

It's really so relieving to see someone talk so empathically . I ve been on medication n diagnosed with it since 3 years. N it really feels it will never get any better ..

Thanks for the video and the perspective Syl. I agree (as a patient) with your view of PDD - it's easy to downplay it as mild. "Narrower" (versus MDD) sounds a lot more fitting to me!

There are thousands upon thousands of smiling depressives out here! I have a feeling there are even more than ever, thanks to social media and general isolation.

love your driving with the brake on example . i had a big mate once ask me what depression and anxiety felt like .. now im only 5' 8 about 80 kg . but im strong as . my mate was about 6'4 120kg and strong . so i wrapped my arms around him and gripped hard and took a horse stance . i said ok walk to the door . really try and walk to the door . 'about 12 feet away . he couldnt move cos i had him held there . i kept saying . the door come on get to the door . he tried n tried , i held him back . i said come on whats up with you ?. he was getting frustrated and trying even harder . then gave up n said . fuk you . lol .... i said . thats what depression and anxiety feel like .. you want to do something . but you cant . no matter how hard you try ... I THINK I WOKE HIM UP THAT DAY .

Thank you so much. I was just recently diagnosed with dysthymia and you explained everything so well on what I've been going through. From the UK 🇬🇧

Trying to learn more about PDD as a family member was recently diagnosed. It made so much sense when you said that it almost becomes their personality (which is why for years we did not notice it) Very informative thank you!

I struggle with my dysthymia and thank you for giving another video to this. I just dont know how to feel about life anymore

30 years I’ve had this I cant think of an analogy lol besides emotional eczema

You're so lovely

Love your supportive and kind attitude.

thank you so much. just got diagnosed with dysthymia and its been really hard to wrap my head around the diagnosis. but this video really helped calm me down and finding acceptance towards myself so thank you again.

You do a very awesome job in these vids... Thank you so much! from a person struggling with a lot of what you talk about as well as the professional in this same field.

I'm a 46 yo Aussie bloke here. I was diagnosed with Dysthymia about 7 years ago. I am a chronic alcoholic which I have managed to cut back a lot these days. I have been heavily medicated since the age of 9 back in 1986. Medication does not seem to work very well with me as I seem to get more side effects than good outcomes. This has been so debilitating and ruined my life in so many ways it isn't funny. I am a father of two daughters and have been with my wife for 28 years. I am now on Duloxetine 60mg and Seroquel 50mg for sleep. I am a Peer Practitioner and mental health support worker in Melbourne. If you were able to refer me to someone north of Melbourne it would be fantastic. This is a truly debilitating mental health condition that I have had my entire life. I am soooo very tired my friend. Thanks in advance JR

I really really like your videos. You seems like a truly warm and caring person, one who actually seems to have the will to help people with psychiatric and mental illness. Myself have bipolar 2, ADHD, Social anxiety and ptsd. The psychiatric health care here in Sweden (at least where i go) is not verry helpfull at all. I truly wish you the best of luck in your future and are both jelous and happy for your future patients! 🌹

Thank you for posting this. I was diagnosed with this when I was probably 14. I’ve been through around 10 therapists (weekly/biweekly meetings), 5 ish psychiatrists, not counting all the different psychiatrists and therapists in all the different psych wards I’ve been in. I’m 26 now. Seeing this video reminded me of this diagnosis which my current therapist and psychiatrist don’t know about. Mental health is an enormous spectrum and the mind can do incredible things and create new neural pathways and in the future new medicine may be available…….., so that’s the hope I’m desperately clinging to everyday damn day.

I finally got diagnosed and I just have this feeling of relief like "phew I'm cured" but then I realize I just know what the problem is now and have to work to treat it dang

Finally made a self referral. Almost didn't. I can't ever remember not feeling this way. When I met the entire checklist you went through...oof. 20+ years of feeling empty, here's hoping the NHS can help.

I was diagnosed with PDD last May 2021. My doctor advised me to take medication and attend therapies but unfortunately I can't afford both😔 Currently, I am just self medicating through distracting myself whenever i feel triggered and having episodes. I pray that one day we find the peace and healing we long for. ❤️

Hello, again! To be honest I think this was the video that made me subscribe to your channel because you talked about the topic with the compassion all doctors should have. I was diagnosed with this some time ago and it sucks, but I also experience anxiety, so, a whole difficult set symptoms to deal with. As you say, you don't really what is part of your personality and what is part of the disorder itself anymore. I totally agree with the comparison between a physical and mental illness, especially with something like cancer. Anyway, if you have any question, feel free to ask me 💜 always looking forward to your videos.

Such an educational video. Thank you!

I have dd...suffered for years ...medicine helps me. 3 different antidepressants. After years of a wide range of medicine I'm finally stable .I am 64.

Sometimes you’re the only one that can help yourself

Yup PTSD and depression since I was a kid. Can’t remember not feeling like shit. I’m a mom now tho so I’m just living with it. I still feel lost I guess but I just say I’m a nihilist. I do think I’m stuck in my bad luck. Idk that it can ever be fixed but I just gotta do my best until it’s night night time. I don’t see death as scary. I look forward to it bc it’s rest to me. Idk I’m doing my best to smile and be a good mom. All I do is for my kiddo. Yes I’m on meds and yes therapy. I still feel like poop tho.

Thank you for making this I just got diagnosed with this

10 years ago (at 38) I was diagnosed with "double depression" First time I heard that, and is the absolute best way I could ever describe it. Since I'm not a quitter, I still have DD with minor pockets where the major depression levels out. 😏

I feel like I've had this for years, but recently it has got a lot worse.

We’re all screwed up. 😂🤣. Enjoyed your video..

I've been like that since I was 15. I'm 27 now. Some life events make me happy here and there but never for more that a few days. I get chunks of a few months where I'd be extremely depressed or extremely anxious. I had a crule upbringing I had been mistreated abused and disrespected a lot. I moved out on my 17 birthday I tried to put myself through mechanical engineering school but I failed miserably (ran out of money with only a year and a half to go) now I have been work in customer service for the last 4 years. I feel stuck. 80% of my human interactions I feel disrespected and abused by the customers and it has been bringing back old trauma. I feel like a true bottom feeder in society.

This on really stuck out to me. Only recently have I started discussing mental illness and admitting to myself that I have some sirious issues, as you said because being a man I felt as though I couldn't talk about these things. Feeling as though it's only honorable to die on your white horse, and disgraceful to fall off it. All my life, minus a few months here and there, I've felt as though everything is a struggle. A constant weight. Not like a laziness, but just always exhausted, just wanting life to end so the weight of every little decision would be lifted. Recently I had about an 8 month to a year, decending depressive episode and according to your description I believe psychotic depression. I was using THC at the time, which I firmly believe sped up and enhanced my symptoms. They where many memorable mental experiences, but one specifically I had smoked and was sitting alone on my bed in the dark, about 3am and was paralyzed with fear as I heard voices of my friends and family saying things like "he's worthless, his house is a mess", very specific things that I had on my conscience. Then I was overwhelmed with fear that my friend and roomate was upstairs and had taken his life, images of him hanging flashed in my head and I quickly ran upstairs to see. They had just got home from a party and thankfully his girlfriend sat and helped calm me down. I was also experiencing deep seclusion and sirious, dehabilitating social anxiety. Mental illness is real, and it's not to be taken lightly. I hope to start therapy again, but for now I cant afford it and want more proffesional opinions before trying any medication. Thankfully I have been going uphill, and have made very good progress from what I was. I new I was deep, but looking back it's amazing I'm even still here. I never want to go back there again I'll tell you that. I still have a long ways to go though. Good luck to anyone else struggling. Hang in there and reach out for help, dont talk yourself out of it.

Dr Syl. I have been living with what my GP's surgery describes as 'low mood' since my teenage days. I am now 58 years old and have found my doctors less than helpful and at times dismissive. I use exercise and routine to combat my state of mind and to answer the question have i had mood disruption for two weeks or longer .. i have experienced two consecutive days where I didn't feel depressed in four years. GP's can offer anti-depressants and talk therapy but with little effect. Exercise and increasingly longer periods of exercise offer some relief but i have 'disciplined' myself to such an extent that i limit my social options and I am isolated .. i feel like i can only imagine a 'zombie' state might feel. I wish i could receive diagnosis to at least relive me of the constant accusation that i am a weak man .. a recognised diagnosis would allow me to deflect blame from myself .. but .. GP's continue to 'label' me as low mood??

Wow this I exactly how I feel.

The worst thing about my situation is that when I see other people who don't have the challenge of illness in their lives, I compare myself strongly and I feel that all the efforts that I make to get well, every normal person had done, now his performance and life would be very different. I'm still busy and no matter what I try to get better, the change doesn't happen that much. After I got help from the medicine and it didn't work as much as I wanted, I started exercising. And you didn't achieve anything? Why aren't the others like that? Safe from problematic genetics I am really tired of fighting and not getting anything.

I'm in year 15 of depression, tried all the drugs, therapy etc😢

Have Autism, ADHD, PTSD and more. These criteria fit me. I dont eat most days, etc.

No dr has ever been helpful. It never gets better for me, i feel numb and in agony all the time, tired and unmotivated, wanna get better but dont feel the point of trying at the same time. Cant focus, cant remember, meds dont work, and no matter how much im cognitively aware it just always comes over me. Feeling sad, angry, unloved, unlovable, unwanted... always over attach to woman because i cant feel internal happiness and i always scare them away by being instantly clingy then feel sadder when they leave. I dont wanna die but id be okay if i didnt exist at the same time... wish i could find a program or something that would help me with an expert psychiatrist and electromagnetic bran stimulation or whatever its called to try and help me. I just wish someone could help me out of this hell that no matter what i do my brain wont overcome...

I have 5 of the 6 symptoms you mentioned would that mean it's more than persistent depressive disorder

You just described me

I have double depression. I've been working with a psychotherapist for 10 months (on a weekly basis). My emotional state stablized, I can cope with my everyday life, but I still feel my life is completely pointless and it's on autopilot. I asked my therapist if she could give me some feedback on where am I in the process of getting better, and she thought about it and said, I don't know. I can maintain my life on my own, I am skilled in CBT, I am not suicidal, but I don't have any motivation to live. I am not sure therapy works (I don't think it's my therapist, I think it's me, perhaps being too broken to fix). What would you advise? Should I continue therapy? Should I quit and spend that money on something else? Can really everyone get better?

Love the channel but as i learn i cant help thinking that … its nice to have categorised all the different types of mental illnesses but i get the feeling that the prescriptions are very similar from one to the next. Say i want to know how you call my type of depression but i can tell what you will prescribe, anyways. Hopefully im wrong and this is not the case ! Mental illnesses are terrible and i suffer from mine as well as empathise with others. Bless you all.

i think i have this disorder and it feels like its gonna go on forever , and im just bored with this feelings and i really want to end it i really want it to stop

I’ve been to so many therapists now for 5 years and im still not being diagnosed? Ive been diagnosed with medium high depression, compulsions and socisl anxiety, socisl anxiety has lowered after years of work but my depression is weird? Its become a part of my personality and thats more than just regular depression right? I just want to be properly diagnosed, im always empty. Do i need to go higher in help? Like a psychiatrist? Because now im just seeing a regular therapist. Idk what to do.

Suffering from PDD for about 7 years I don't know how i made it to this moment after my MDE s without medications or Medical help 🤔🤔🤔

I've been sick with depression everyday for almot two years now and my dooctor isn't doing anything to try and help me. Only reason why I'm stuck with her is because I'm on ativan and have to taper off while I have her before I go to another doc because they may snatch me completely off or lower my dose way lower than what I'm on so wish me luck getting myself down so I won't run into that issue.

GPs in the UK won't even see you if you are dying, nowadays, never mind suffering from MH issues, sadly.

I feel like this this describes me perfectly like everything it say's.....the emptiness too aslong as i can remember at this point ni energy like no point in anything why my life is shit rn i know i need help but eveytime I think of getting it i get scared im 25 i have just learned to say f it and. Try to love my life but it honestly is getting harder to do so

A couple of months ago i was diagnosed with PDD and honestly it wasn’t such a surprise to me, but the way my psychiatrist diagnosed me was rlly weird. I had two appointments, one them was me having to talk ab everything and explaining what was happening and the second one was them telling me what they would do next. I remember coming home crying after the second appointment since my psychiatrist said some rlly weird things imo. He told me that they weren’t rlly sure whatever was wrong w me and that they didn’t necessarily see very big problems etc. Than later on I had to go to just my therapist and in our first appointment she asked me whether it was ok for her to send my GP a letter with the things they talked about. She read it out loud so that i could say if i was okay with what so wrote or not. Anyways, she had written down in the letter that I had dysthymia and generalized anxiety disorder. What was weird to me is that she didn’t properly explained the dysthymia part. She told me that it was ‘not rlly depressed but also not not depressed’ and i literally felt horrible and was absolutely convinced that the way i had felt was just who i was. I had to do my own research as to what dysthymia actually is and figured out it was basically high functioning depression. I’m honestly still mad ab how they told me that it wasn’t all that deep and i quit therapy after going like 6 times. But honestly i have no clue what to do. Rn i’m in college but its been really hard for me to actually do my work and focus without crying ab every assignment. This disorder literally ruined my life and i honestly have no idea what to do bc it’s the first time ever that its affecting my school performance etc. Literally feel so helpless rn

My psychiatrist diagnosed me with Dysthymia apart from ssr and tricyclic antidepressants but he has put me on Lithium carbonate 500mg day and night can you tell me why??

I've been diagnosed with dysthymia. I often want to sleep. I develop resistance to medications every two to three years and they have to be changed...

How do I determine a symptom is from my ADHD or if it's this?

Iam also suffering dysthymia please choose best antidepressant

kinda serious question: If you think that you have something going on similar to this, what should you do? Is there a specific type of mental health expert you should go to first. I don't know the first thing about this. I just want to know where I should start.

treatment can be by medication alone? I can't afford therapy and I met all the criteria, wasn't only 2 of those, was all of them.

Thank you for this video but i really wish that just getting help was the answer. In my adult child the meds are as bad as the treatment and they dont work for him. I am a medical professional and i have always said that mental health problems are almost worse than phycial problems. If only surgery woild fix this...

Ask for help, ok. But get information about medication and if you think you are out of other options, take them consciously. NOT just because the doctor tells you to. (In my country they say other forms of treatment don’t work without meds. It’s not true, and an immense obstacle to overcome when you need help, but don’t want drug dependency.) Informative for you might be what dr. Robert Sapolsky writes about depression and medication in his book ‘Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers’. His lectures also to be found on YT.

It can be but isn’t necessarily less severe. I think that’s way too oversimplified.

I was diagnosed with this as a teen by mistake

What causes it

Can you have pdd and struggle with suicidal thoughts or tendencies bc I struggle with thoughts but not rlly actions

An oversleeping, over-eater doesn't seem necessarily clinical so I am concerned about that as being all that is required for this. A person who needs 9.5 hours of sleep might not be over-sleeping at all, but the whole "8 hour is correct" attitude could give someone the perception there is something wrong with them.

It's just a burden and it's always there. Feels like there's no point. Which really there isn't.

Docs can't help me. I've been taking different medications for well over a year and all anything ever did was make it worse.

I got diagnosed last month. The doctor suggests I take antidepressants, but I am scared of side effects.

The book "30 Days to Reduce Depression" by Harper Daniels does a great job addressing depression.

Could vegetal serotonine help?????????????? Thanks!

I know what's Dysthymia BUT what's going on in the brain? 7 years without no mental experts in my town making me feel better. Sometimes I Have slept for 2 consecutive days and no, it's not hypersomnia per se. Help!

I have been in and out since I was 7 with depression I am 100% sure the system is broken and doesn't work I'm 34 and scared dimension anything else to anyone just wait to die so I can get some sort of relief from it

what if i cant afford help?

Nice video 🤭also Me with adhd .. oh pretty plant 🪴

45 and still never got to the bottom of this. Another 40 ish years to go 😄

The crazy part is that you believe thats just your personality, and if i get treatment, will i change for the worst? I love how i am but is just ubereable to live like this

I'm just passing time till my kids grow up, then I can just die with a clear conscience

Ive had it since 7 according my records. Life is shit and there isnt anything you can say in the english language i either have already heard before or is just filler to make yourself feel better. Some of us were born human. The rest of us, we spend a lifetime getting there.

Can it be caused all of sudden

🌺Can we be Friends

It’s not always a GP that can help, my dr was SHIT he could not provide me with psychologists who bulk bill in my area ...so that I could get on a mental health care plan so he pushed me off to another dr as I pointed out that you are slack ....he didn’t like that....it’s not that easy this dr had no experience in mental health

I’m 58 PDD, I’ve been everywhere on every scale that was “available at the time”. And I still hear someone say “what’s she gotta be depressed about”!! Just keep inching forward…

i was given that paper as a questionnaire , i had to tick the things that applied to me . i ended up ticking all of them . you know yu screwed when even sex dont interest you . lol

Like riding a bike with flat tires in a sand dune

I’ve been diagnosed with this, ask me anything..

The only problem i have is with my brain !

Listen no one is 100% mentally healthy but have somehow contained their illness to to be a part of society. I challenge you, you will write prescription to every person you meet. What ever you say or more you talk list of medicines goes up making you living zombie like state. Therapy along with complete change of lifestyle with counselling can help. Drugs should be used in initial stages, later therapy, counselling and other should takes its place. They should identify themselves and their needs and should have enough knowledge about their particular disease so that when it comes on. They will be ready this time. They should have mental strength build up to a point where they are in control of their mind not the disease.

i think my brains mush . i have too many of these issues . only thing im grateful for is im aware of it . and i dont pretend im a o k . lol