are antidepressants helpful for dysthymia, or do you have to be clinically depressed for them to be effective?

Answer 1

Absolutely. "Recent research shows that approximately 62% of patients with dysthymic disorder will benefit from antidepressant medication." Since dysthymia is basically a chronic, low-grade depression, anit-depressants, such as prozac have proven helpful.

While medication is helpful, don't forget about individual psychotherapy. "Patients who receive psychotherapy of any of several types - notably cognitive, interpersonally-oriented, or behavior therapy with social skills training - tend to have a good prognosis, with or without antidepressant medication."

Best of luck to you!

Answer 2

Dysthymia is a recognised form of clinical depression.

Anti-depressants (SSRIs) will work on any level of depression, but you may have to try a few different types until you get comfortable with them - just as anyone who takes SSRIs does.

Answer 3

Depression. The great non-illness of our time.
It sounds better than 'bummed', 'dissapointed', 'fed-up' or 'sad', so sufferrers prefer the title.
I have had good reason in my life to feel - very - bad about it, and myself. I don't. I'm a positive, chipper type. The cure for 'depression' is in that thing between your ears, not in a pill-bottle from the doctor. Meds state that "I can't handle life". Life s the great adventure. You think you're bummed? Imagine the Israeli army chased you North out of Southern Lebanon, and you've just trekked back for three days to find your house in ruins, your family dead and your village destroyed. Depressed?
What ya gonna do? Roll over and give up, or rise up and prevail?

Peace. I hope you find yours, and your strength to live your life, with no buffer from the reality of it.

Answer 4

You need to talk to him and make him understand what he means to you. Yeah, it might be really bad but the only way anything's gonna change is if he makes it. And as for the anorexia, that's just a symptom of depression. It's not that he's TRYING to starve himself, it's just that he doesn't have much appetite because of his negative outlook. And as for the professional help, counselors might not be enough. Medication might be the answer as long as you monitor his intake. If he's having suicidal thoughts, definitely monitor him or it could lead to self-mutilation or worse. And he will regret hurting himself later, making his condition worse. Talk to his counselors (and your guardians/parents, whatever) and see about getting him medication. You could also see about taking him out of school for certain amounts of time to see how that affects him.

Answer 5

Don't listen to the people that say depression isn't really an illness and that you should be able to pull yourself out of it. Obviously these people are jackasses. Go see a psychiatrist.

Answer 6

i don't know, but studies show more than 70% of people taking antidepressants still suffer from symptoms of depresion, so if that's the case they may be useless to some, besides pills don't cure problem, people do

Answer 7

for me antidepressants have so many negative things that i would not advise to use them, as long as it is not matter of life.

Answer 8

Antidepressants work better than placebo to reduce anxiety in people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
In the past, people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were usually treated with drugs designed to reduce anxiety (called anxiolytics). There is growing evidence that drugs used to treat depression (antidepressants) may also be helpful for people with GAD. We therefore reviewed clinical trials of the use of antidepressants in GAD . Fifteen published trials were included. Of these trials, eight used recognized methods for diagnosing GAD and gave useful data (Rickels 1993; Rocca 1997; Davidson 1999 a; Gelenberg 2000, Rickels 2000 b, Hackett 1999, Pollack 2001, Rynn 2000). Six trials were excluded: two trials were open studies, without a control group (Hedges 1996; Wingerson 1992); two included patients with GAD plus other types of mental illness (Johnstone 1980 a; Lipman 1986); one study included patients who were stopping long term benzodiazepine therapy (Rickels 2000 a). One study presented early data for an already included study (Hackett 1999). We are waiting for further data for one study (Hoehn-Saric 1988). One study involved children and adolescents with GAD (Rynn 2000) and its results were reviewed separately. Our review showed that antidepressants were better than placebo (dummy treament) for treating GAD and were well tolerated. We did not find evidence to conclude whether some types of antidepressant are better than others. Overall, about 5 people need to be treated in order for one person with GAD to benefit. The single study using antidepressants in children and adolescents with GAD also showed very promising results.

Abstract
Background
Pharmacological treatments have been successfully used to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Benzodiazepine and non benzodiazepine anxiolytics used to be the mainstay for the pharmacological treatment of GAD. However, data emerging over the last two decades have shown that antidepressants may be as effective as anxiolytics in this condition. The use of antidepressants may also be beneficial , because GAD often coexists with major depressive disorder (62% comorbidity) and dysthymia (37%).

Objectives
To assess the efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants for treating generalized anxiety disorder.

Search strategy
Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register - CCDANCTR (up to May 2002), Anxiety Neurosis (up to May 2002) and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL/CCTR) (up to May 2002), MEDLINE (1966 to May 2002), LILACS (1982 to May 2002); reference searching; personal communication; conference abstracts and book chapters on the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.

Selection criteria
Randomized controlled trials were included. Non randomized studies and those that included patients with both GAD and another Axis I co-morbidity were excluded.

Data collection and analysis
The data from studies were extracted independently by two reviewers. Relative risks, weighted mean difference and number needed to treat were estimated. People who died or dropped out were regarded as having had no improvement.

Main results
Antidepressants (imipramine, venlafaxine and paroxetine) were found to be superior to placebo in treating GAD. The calculated NNT for antidepressants in GAD is 5.15. Dropout rates did not differ between antidepressants. Only one study presented data on imipramine and trazodone. Imipramine was chosen as the reference drug and, therefore, data on trazodone could not be included in the meta analysis. Only one study was conducted among children and adolescents (Rynn 2000). This showed very promising results of sertraline in children and adolescents with GAD, which warrants replication in larger samples.

Authors' conclusions
The available evidence suggests that antidepressants are superior to placebo in treating GAD. There is evidence from one trial suggesting that paroxetine and imipramine have a similar efficacy and tolerability. There is also evidence from placebo-controlled trials suggesting that these drugs are well tolerated by GAD patients. Further trials of antidepressants for GAD will help to demonstrate which antidepressants should be used for which patients.

Answer 9

sometimes being depressed is all in the mind...try to motivate your brain....go and see yourself infront of the mirror and tell yourself that you are beautiful and pretty nothing can hinder you..Smile always....take a walk....clean your room....and most especially Pray for guidance......you are the owner of your brain..and you can always give it a command....t.c.

Answer 10

they should work if Dr gave you them see Dr and see what he thinks