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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by janejj on March 15, 2002, at 9:55:54
Hello,
my doctor says he's pretty sure that I have dysthymia and looking at the symtoms i realise that I have been depressed for a very long time and i didn't even know it, until i slipped into a major depression. Why don't they screen people for this disorder ? How are you supposed to even know otherwise ? i always thought that I just had a kind of depressive nature and i really couldn;t pin down what it was that I was depressed about. I've had some major things happen to me in my life, so i always attributed my feelngs to those things.
Now i look back and realise I have been depressed since I was 16, 6 years. I'm just angry that i couldn't have sorted this out earlier and not slipped into a double depression, I wish that they had screened me. I used to cry when i went to see the careers advisor at school, she must have thought i was a little strange, but i had all these emotions and I just wanted to let them out. I wish that i had seen a mental healthcare proffessional instead, at least they might have realised what was wrong with me.
I can't believe that I have been living this way for so long and thinking that it was normal! Now i am on prozac I feel happy, i can't remember ever feeling like this for a long period of time. So now I know that i wasted so much of my teenage years being depressed.What a waste, I'm feeling very bitter.
janejj
Posted by christophrejmc on March 15, 2002, at 16:50:42
In reply to Dysthymia, why don't they screen people at school , posted by janejj on March 15, 2002, at 9:55:54
Well, at age nine I was sent to the school psychologist & then to a psychiatrist for some... odd behaviour. They thought that I was depressed (I was), but I managed to convince them otherwise. At the time it felt like a punishment, and I didn't want people to think I was "crazy."
Before we start screening for depression/etc. in kids, I think we need to make more of an effort to educate EVERYONE about mental illness.
Posted by mair on March 15, 2002, at 17:17:12
In reply to Dysthymia, why don't they screen people at school , posted by janejj on March 15, 2002, at 9:55:54
Jane - I think I'm in the same boat as you, except that no one figured out (or talked about) the dysthimia piece until I was in my 40's. I was treated for a major depression in my 20's but double depression was never discussed. I think you'll find that there are lots of people on this board who never recognized that they were depressed as children or teens until they become depressed as adults. This is all very unfortunate but I can look back on my life to see discrete examples where maybe adults were trying to reach out to me some when I was a teen. I pretty much blew them all off.
What's more unconscionable to me is that after major depression #1, I waited much too long deluding myself that I was over that before I got back into treatment. You'd think I would have known better since I was familiar with the symptoms and knew I was at somewhat of a higher risk. I think you believe what you want to believe however, and pretty much hear what you want to hear. But I do wonder if the last 5 years or so wouldn't have been so much of a struggle if I'd picked up on things much sooner.
Mair
Posted by Cecilia on March 16, 2002, at 2:41:34
In reply to Dysthymia, why don't they screen people at school , posted by janejj on March 15, 2002, at 9:55:54
Screen people at school? I think it was school(and the psychological abuse I received from peers and teachers due to my extreme shyness) that CAUSED my childhood depression. Cecilia
Posted by Fi on March 16, 2002, at 12:38:32
In reply to Dysthymia, why don't they screen people at school , posted by janejj on March 15, 2002, at 9:55:54
This is such a good point- and the one about including education about psychological problems in yourself and others at school. We learnt all sorts of stuff I have never needed, but had no mention of psychological problems. It would be a good way of trying to tackle the stigma, and help these children (and then adults) to recognise the signs of problems, and treat them appropriately.
Screening too- I was a bit ill for weeks as a child, and saw a couple of GPs who considered various physical illnesses (which it wasnt) and ignored the fact my brother had died a couple of years earlier, and that my mother had depression!
Looking back on it, I think dysthymia was probably what was going on. I *hope* doctors are better at picking up on it, but agree that its important school staff are on the look out too. And of course, not *causing* the stress, as mentioned by Cecilia.Fi
Posted by Katia on October 24, 2002, at 21:32:26
In reply to Dysthymia, why don't they screen people at school , posted by janejj on March 15, 2002, at 9:55:54
Hi Janejj,
I know it's been awhile since you wrote, but I can totally relate to your story, except for the fact that I've been depressed for over twenty years and am just coming to the realization. I'm 32 yrs. old and have numerous heartaches and crisis' in my life I attributed to what was causing me to be so tormented and sad; I've cycled through numerous double depressions, still w/o realizing that I had something that could be treated. I thought it was my fault and I hid it away from people, trying so desperately to "get it together" and drinking to self-medicate. I too am bitter, not only for the lost years, but for the lost jobs, relationships, and ALL the unnecessary suffering in silence. I've recently started on ADs for the first time. Celexa for two months, which didn't work; now Effexor for over a month. It might be working, but not completely. I sleep so much and feel groggy and tired if I have too much social interaction (like depression). I also have been constipated. What has your history of meds been? HAs it been successful for you?
Thanks.
Katia> Hello,
>
> my doctor says he's pretty sure that I have dysthymia and looking at the symtoms i realise that I have been depressed for a very long time and i didn't even know it, until i slipped into a major depression. Why don't they screen people for this disorder ? How are you supposed to even know otherwise ? i always thought that I just had a kind of depressive nature and i really couldn;t pin down what it was that I was depressed about. I've had some major things happen to me in my life, so i always attributed my feelngs to those things.
>
> Now i look back and realise I have been depressed since I was 16, 6 years. I'm just angry that i couldn't have sorted this out earlier and not slipped into a double depression, I wish that they had screened me. I used to cry when i went to see the careers advisor at school, she must have thought i was a little strange, but i had all these emotions and I just wanted to let them out. I wish that i had seen a mental healthcare proffessional instead, at least they might have realised what was wrong with me.
>
> I can't believe that I have been living this way for so long and thinking that it was normal! Now i am on prozac I feel happy, i can't remember ever feeling like this for a long period of time. So now I know that i wasted so much of my teenage years being depressed.What a waste, I'm feeling very bitter.
>
> janejj
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