I was diagnosed with dysthymia about 3 years ago. I would just like to make clear that there are different degrees of dysthymia. I am happily married and feel relatively okay a lot of the time, but I'm always fighting the urge to assume everything will go wrong and everything will always be terrible, the second anything stressful happens.
Even when I'm
happy, I think that something
bad is going to happen no matter what. Its
pessimism to an extreme. I can stop myself from thinking this way in most cases.. but I find myself always preparing for the
worst. I figure, if I prepare for the worst, then nothing can hurt me. In reality, I am ruining good moments I have by anticipating the bad, and I still get
hurt just as much.
Therapy helped, but unfortunately I still have
anxiety attacks which come back in spurts every time some big change happens. I guess the key to getting better is selective perception and sheer will.