In order to be diagnosed with dysthymic disorder, no major depressive disorder has been diagnosed and the duration in children and adolescents must be at least a year, for adults this is more than two years. This means that the person needs to have a long termed, mild and not complicated depression to be diagnosed with dysthymia.

In adults, dysthymia has a big risk to turn into major depressive disorder. In children, there is a risk of having hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders and mental retardation. Adolescents have bad school performance low self esteem and poor social interaction.

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Women get depressed as twice as much men do. The reasons why they bare this high risk are partial hormonal changes in adolescence age, having periods, menopause and pregnancy.
Despite the fact that the depression risk of men is less, probably men in need of help are many in number. They show typical depression symptoms, however with respect to women they become much more quick- tempered and ready to attack or try to hide behind the mask of using alcohol and drugs. Suicide is a serious risk for men in depression and suicide cases are 4 times much more than those of women.
Old people may have to settle for a life alone and with the loss of their beloved ones. They may be in a situation that they are not physically capable of doing activities once they used to do. All these changes may contribute to depression. The beloved ones of theirs may relate these symptoms with the consequences their age brings along, already most of them are unwilling to speak of these symptoms. As a result, old people may not get treated for depression.

Treatment

Antidepressant medications (depression treating medication) lead 60-80% of the patients recover. Treatment is long- lasting and the medication requires regular usage. It takes a couple of weeks for medications to make difference. For that reason, it’s totally wrong to stop taking medication after a couple of usage thinking it would not work. The effects of medications depend on person. Not any rule exists such as any medication is for any patient.
Furthermore side- effects depends on the medications. If a relative of yours has been through depression and recovered, the same kind of medication may be good for you. In some patients, usage of more than one kind of medication, usage of psychotherapy (therapy by professionals using special techniques in talking) along with medication or other methods may be required. Questions like which medication is good and what dose is fine are usually determined by trial and error. That’s why after you start with the therapy, do not lose touch with your doctor, have regular controls, avoid frequent doctor changes and remember that the treatment is long- lasting.
Researches revealed that by usage of medication along with psychotherapy, better results are obtained than of those by medication itself. The methods being used in depression treatment could be summarized as the following:

-Antidepressant medications

-Alternative psychotherapy methods

-Group therapies

-Electro- convulsive therapy

-Phototherapy

-Other methods

In the last group, there are some methods that are used practically but methods of which the benefits in scientific aspects have not yet been proved. Among them are techniques like usage of preparations involving B group vitamins and folic asid, acupuncture, therapy with music, therapy with herbal essences, exercises, massage etc. Whether these techniques are beneficial or not is not precise. That’s why it’s recommended that people suffering from depression should apply to a psychiatrist in the first place rather than choosing these methods directly. If any kind of a new treatment technique is considered for usage, again there should be an advice taken by an expert. Unnecessarily usage of a method may lead to loss of time and money, whereas it may hurt the patient.

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