Cyclothyme Fault | What types of depression are there?

Cyclothyme Fault

Cyclothymia is one of the persistent, affective disorders. It describes a persistent unstable mood that constantly fluctuates between two extremes. It is therefore a manic-depressive illness (bipolar disorder) in an attenuated form.

Episodes of slightly depressed mood are replaced by episodes of slightly manic (hypomanic) mood. However, the depressive and manic symptoms never reach the level of depression or bipolar disorder. Some patients suffering from cyclothymia develop a depressive disorder during their lifetime. People who suffer from cyclothymia have a higher than average number of relatives who suffer from bipolar disorder. Cyclothymia usually develops at an advanced age and often lasts a lifetime.

Neurotic Depression

The term neurotic depression is outdated. It is no longer used in the classification of mental illnesses. As already mentioned, depression used to be divided into three types.

Reactive depression triggered from the outside, endogenous depression triggered from the inside and neurotic depression triggered by mental stress. The trigger of a neurotic depression was considered to be in particular emotional overload. Today, the term dysthymia has replaced the term neurotic depression.

Dysthymia, like cyclothymia, is one of the persistent affective disorders. It is a chronic depressive mood that lasts for several years (sometimes for life) and does not reach the level of depression in its severity. The symptoms of dysthymia are therefore similar to those of depression, but are not as pronounced.

Compared to depressive episodes, which usually last several months if untreated, dysthymia is chronic. People with dysthymia have an increased risk of developing depression. They suffer disproportionately often from other mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders, personality disorders, somatoform disorders and alcohol and drug abuse.

The first signs of dysthymia often appear in childhood. The therapy of dysthymia is almost analogous to that of a depressive episode. A drug therapy with antidepressants and/or a psychotherapeutic treatment is possible.

Somatogenic Depression

The concept of somatized somatic depression is also obsolete today. Nowadays we speak of a larvae depression.In larval depression, the depression is masked by the superficial appearance of physical symptoms. It leads to unspecific physical symptoms such as back pain, headaches, a feeling of pressure on the chest and dizziness.

Often a lot of time passes until the psychological symptoms, i.e. those of depression, become apparent so that the correct diagnosis can be made. Not to be confused with somatogenic depression, but he means something completely different. A somatogenic depression is a depression that is caused by a physical illness.

Numerous diseases can cause somatogenic depression. The most typical example are patients with cancer, patients after a heart attack or patients with diseases that are accompanied by chronic pain. Treatment is carried out medically and psychotherapeutically.