dysthemia

Noun

dysthymia (usually uncountable, plural dysthymias)

1. (usually) A tendency to be depressed, without hope.
   • Other [subway] passengers showed no outward signs of distress. They appeared to have homes and money and good health, they carried briefcases or bags. … Their faces didn't cave in despair or trouble or strain. But they still had a walled-off look, their brows furrowed, their eyes cast deep into...2021, Lisa Miller, The Awakened Brain, Ch.1, at p.25

   Synonyms:

   depression, despondence, dejectedness, gloom, lypemania

   Antonyms:

   euthymia, euphoria

2. (usually) A form of clinical depression, characterized by low-grade depression which lasts at least two years.
   • For diagnostic, research, and treatment reasons, a distinction should always be made between the milder dysthymias, atypical and hysteroid depressions, and the more serious major depressive illnesses, with and without melancholic (vegetative) and psychotic features.1989, James F. Masterson, Ralph Klein, editors, Psychotherapy of the Disorders of the Self: The Masterson Approach, page 369

   Synonyms:

   persistent depressive disorder, PDD

   Antonyms:

   euthymia