Mild depression has symptoms similar to major depressive disorder but of reduced intensity and shorter duration. Minor depressive disorder has at least two symptoms for two weeks, while dysthymia has less intense symptoms that persist for at least two years. Treatment includes psychotherapy, medication, and natural therapies.
Mild depression is a psychiatric condition with symptoms similar to major depressive disorder (MDD), commonly called major depression, clinical depression, or simply depression. However, mild depression differs from MDD in that symptoms are of reduced intensity and often of shorter duration. Minor depressive disorder is characterized by the persistence of at least two symptoms of depression for two weeks. Low-level depression that persists for at least two years is called dysthymia.
Major depressive disorder is characterized by major depressive episodes, in which at least five symptoms of depression, necessarily including depressed mood or decreased interest or pleasure, must persist for two weeks. If fewer than five symptoms are present and the patient does not have major depressive episodes as defined in the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), then the patient has mild depression. Symptoms of depression as defined in the DSM are depressed mood, loss of pleasure and interest, significant changes in appetite or weight, excessive or inadequate amount of sleep, abnormally agitated or slowed movement, fatigue, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, feelings delusions of guilt or worthlessness and thoughts of death or suicide.
Minor depressive disorder differs from MDD in that fewer symptoms are present, whereas dysthymia is characterized by less or less intense symptoms that persist for much longer. A patient with dysthymia must regularly experience at least two symptoms of depression for at least two years. The patient should be affected most of the time, with symptom relief lasting no more than two months.
Mild depression, like DCS, can be treated with psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy. Dysthymia is sometimes also treated medically, usually in combination with psychotherapy. The drugs usually take the form of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a type of antidepressant, sometimes in combination with a mood stabilizer or anti-anxiety drug. Natural therapies such as St. John’s Wort supplement are also sometimes used to manage mild depression.
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