I was initially diagnosed with dysthymia quite a few years ago and decided to try medication, which was an MAOI (Parnate) that did help some, but eventually I did acquire major depression which, in some ways, was a gift because eventually, I was miserable enough that I started wondering where it had come from and thus began my journey into discovering what had happened to me during childhood and how it was still affecting my adult life.  I'm beginning to believe that a good share of depression and bipolar have their roots in childhood abuse or trauma - it doesn't matter what exactly happened, but how we perceived it and how it was handled by those who cared for us that makes the difference.  I think this can set the stage for a type of "Achilles Heel" that can be triggered by similar-feeling situations later in life, making us wonder why we're reacting so strongly to something that may seem minor.

Anyway, dysthymia is certainly miserable enough to try to do something about it as it robs your life of color, flavor, feeling - all the things that can make life worth living.  I think it can be very subtle so that we don't even realize we're not feeling the best we can and start blaming ourselves for being lazy, pessimistic, etc.  Thanks for bringing up the topic, I think it's important for people to be aware of this.