Double depression: characteristics and treatment

The Depression double appears when a person who suffers from dysthymia ends up leading to major depression. These are situations where the vital dissatisfaction, hopelessness and fatigue of the first condition can intensify until reaching a much darker and disabling psychological state. We are facing a reality of clinical practice that is seen with increasing frequency.

It is quite possible that not everyone has heard of this type of condition. However, double depression is the subject of constant study for a very obvious reason: In the last 10 years, more and more patients (including adolescents) have gone from a persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) to major depression.

In this way, work such as that carried out by the psychology department of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, They tell us that the origin of everything is in the chronicity of dysthymia itself. There are people who live for years in a reality marked by low motivation.constant sadness, tiredness and discouragement, where sooner or later a fact is assumed: that one has completely lost control of one’s own life.

When this type of thinking and the consequent helplessness arrives, this mild depression begins to transform into major depression. Moment when anhedonia, feelings of guilt and suicidal ideas appear. They are, as we see, very complex situations where specialists face a great challenge: treat the symptoms, understand the causes and decide the best treatments for the specific needs of each patient. Let’s see more data below.

“In large part, you built your depression. It was not given to you. Therefore, you can destroy it.”

-Albert Ellis-

Double depression: symptoms and causes

We already know that double depression arises as a result of a serious complication of persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia). However, It should be said that the term as such appeared in the 1980s, but it was not until about 10 years ago that it began to be clarified and defined more rigorously. In fact, in the new edition of the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) It already appears with distinctive characteristics. They are the following:

Double depression is previously based on a persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia). That is, the patient has spent much of his life in a hopeless state of mind. They are chronic states where, although the person functions well in society, they experience low energy, feelings of sadness and problems making decisions on an almost recurring basis.Persistent depressive disorder is often difficult to detect. There are many people who suffer from it but manage to fulfill their obligations, jobs and relationships without asking for clinical help. However, at some point in their lives they perceive that this state is getting worse.Suddenly there appears a total loss of interest in what surrounds them. Nothing attracts them, nothing encourages them or is meaningful to them. Hypersomnia or insomnia appears.Motor slowness also arises, clear difficulty in moving or carrying out daily activities.Suicidal thoughts arise (something that does not happen with persistent depressive disorder).

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That change, that moment when we go from hopelessness to the idea of “disappearing,” now makes up what is known as double depression.

Why does double depression appear?

In a study carried out by Boston University in 2013 and published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology they reveal to us that 10% of the population suffers from dysthymia, and of those people almost 75% are at risk of developing double depression. The reasons why this is usually the following:

A chronic state of sadness and hopelessness sooner or later it leads to other conditions: poor diet, social isolation, lack of motivation… All of this erodes the patient’s reality, until problems arise in personal relationships, at work, etc. The poor emotional state leads to a poor quality of life. That dysthymia worsens (and even more so if it is not treated) to the point of major depression is a risk. evident.

Treatment for double depression

The experts tell us something that may catch our attention: Major depression is easier to treat than dysthymia. Thus, as we have been able to deduce, the key to all this would be to respond to the persistent depressive disorder itself to prevent it from leading to major depression.

Therefore, once double depression is diagnosed, it is necessary to carry out the following strategies:

Drug treatment: according to a study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology Psychiatry and carried out by doctors Hellerstein, Yanowitch, Rosenthal, Treatment with serotonergic antidepressants is very effective.On the other hand, expressive and emotional therapies are very therapeutic for releasing emotions, channeling them and transforming them. Likewise, cognitive-behavioral therapy. With practices such as cognitive restructuring to modify dysfunctional beliefs, it is another highly recommended strategy.

Last but not least, we need to be able to seek professional support whenever we experience that chronic hopelessness that doesn’t seem to leave us. Living in that state, in that recurring and sticky dysthymia, places us on the edge of a highly dangerous abyss. Let’s avoid it, let’s be able to ask for expert help.