Dysthymia is a depressive disorder with recurrent episodes that are undefined (Brinkmann et al., 2019). Dysthymia’s symptoms include; decreasing interest in the attendance to daily chores, depressed mood, and malfunction in educational, social and occupational settings. The generative symptoms relating to dysthymia include; disturbances in one’s sleep appetite, energy, self-esteem, concentration, and experiences of hopelessness. According to Melrose (2017), one is diagnosed with dysthymia if they exhibit depressive symptoms for more than two months during a two year period. Brinkmann et al. (2019) assert that the MDD symptoms are almost similar to those of dysthymia, although MDDs symptoms are much severe with suicidal ideation occurring frequently during the day almost every day in the 2 weeks.
The Cornell Dysthymia Rating Scale (CDRS) is a tool applicable in the screening of the dysthymia (Melrose, 2017). CDRS is a straightforward, simple questionnaire, which consists of 20 items necessary to assess the severity of the dysthymia’s symptoms. According to Melrose (2017), the 20 questions in CDRS specifically assess the severity and the frequency of the dysthymia's symptoms over the past week. The items in CDRS are given a score based on 0-4 in which the total score ranges between 0-80, whereby, the highest scores indicate the existence of very severe symptoms (Melrose, 2017). The CDRS is suitable for assessing recurring and chronic symptoms of Dysthymia as it refers to the recent and current signs of the disorder.
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Recommendation for treatment of dysthymia in a 16-year boy
Initial treatment recommendation | Justification |
| Interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescent and cognitive-behavioral therapies are the initial treatment interventions for an adolescent with depressive disorder (MacQueen et al., 2017) | Reviewing the literature on the 16-year old, that met the AMSTAR guidelines interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for adolescents were the most promising interventions in the treatment of dysthymia as they were showing evidence of efficacy (MacQueen et al., 2017). |
References
Brinkmann, E., Glanert, S., Hüppe, M., Garay, A. S. M., Tschepe, S., Schweiger, U., & Klein, J. P. (2019). Psychometric evaluation of a screening question for persistent depressive disorder. BMC psychiatry , 19 (1), 119.
MacQueen, G., Santaguida, P., Keshavarz, H., Jaworska, N., Levine, M., Beyene, J., & Raina, P. (2017). A systematic review of clinical practice guidelines for failed antidepressant treatment response in major depressive disorder, dysthymia, and subthreshold depression in adults. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry , 62 (1), 11-23.
Melrose, S. (2017). Persistent Depressive Disorder or Dysthymia: An Overview of Assessment and Treatment Approaches. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312624715_
