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Standing With You Through Persistent Depressive Disorder
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Clinically Reviewed by : Dr. Satish Ramaiah
Executive Director, Psychiatry Services, Sukoon Health
What is Persistent Depressive Disorder ?
Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) comes under the category of depressive disorders. All of the depressive disorders have common features of depression, such as a sad, empty, or irritable mood, accompanied by an individual’s capacity to function. To understand what depressive disorders look like, it is important to understand the mechanisms behind them.
Our thoughts, feelings and behaviour are interconnected. Change or distortion in any one aspect can lead to changes in the other two. This cognitive triangle of thoughts, feelings, and behaviour creates either a negative or positive feedback loop. In depression, it often creates a negative feedback loop, starting with a distorted thinking pattern (e.g “I will fail again”), leading to feelings of hopelessness and sadness, and consequently influencing behaviours such as staying in bed, not talking, not socialising, and the vicious loop continues, making the person feel stuck. In disorders like depression or Persistent Depressive Disorder, this feedback loop is the cause behind the maintenance of the depression.
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- Thought about Yourself – Individuals with depression interpret personal experience as evidence of their own worth, such as "I'm not enough.", or "I'm a failure"
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- Thought about the World – They view their environment as unsupportive or hostile, such as "Everything is against me."
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- Thought about the Future – They already see their future outcomes to be a failure and expect suffering, such as "It's never going to get better.
These three types of negative thoughts can interact with our feelings and behaviour, perpetuating the negative feedback loop and continuing the maintenance of the depressive state.
Signs of Persistent Depressive Disorder
Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) is often misunderstood and overlooked. Persistent Depressive Disorder often has an early onset (i.e in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood) and insidious development (i.e PDD develops slowly and gradually), leading to a chronic course. PDD develops over time due to a mix of genetics, environment, and temperamental factors. The patterns of PDD can feel deeply ingrained and sometimes not visible, but with the right professional support, recovery is possible.
Persistent Depressive Disorder symptoms can show up as:
What time shapes, time can also heal,
through patience, care, and understanding
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