"Diagnosing Your Depression: Dysthymia" Dr. Fieve: "A dysthymia occurs in people that are, more days of the year than not, they are a little on the downside. Going through school or work, they are functioning out in the society. They may be married, but they are chronically feeling that they are underachieving. These are the people that used to go into psychotherapy, they didn't go for a medication. So for years, for half a century now, we've been treating these mild depressives, we call them Dysphoria Dysthymia now, who are depressed more weeks out of the year than not, for two years; that's the definition. Now, we find that they are an extension of the major depression syndrome, so they too should get an anti-depressant, and be brought up into the normal range. Because they too have a biochemical disorder. They also too may have problems in their lives, so it's biochemical and psychological. With people like that, I usually give an anti-depressant, and have them do psychotherapy at the same time."