different between dysthymia vs dysthymic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ???????? (dusthumía, “despondency, despair; ill-temper”), from ???- (dus-, “bad”) + ????? (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 2 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, 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.

   • 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

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

Related terms

• dysthymiac
• dysthymic
• euthymia

Translations

Further reading

• dysthymia in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• dysthymia in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

dysthymia +? -ic

Noun

dysthymic (plural dysthymics)

1. A person diagnosed with dysthymia, or dysthymic depression.

Translations

Adjective

dysthymic (comparative more dysthymic, superlative most dysthymic)

1. Having or relating to dysthymia.

   John has always had a dysthymic personality.

Translations