R. Kannappan, and R. Lakshmi Bai
Vinayaka Mission K.V. Medical College, Tamilnadu AIDS Initiative (TAI),
Salem Chennai
Forty woman patients who had the symptoms of generalized body pain, irritability,
loneliness, insomnia, loss of appetite, feeling of hopelessness, easy fatigability,
palpitation, and low self-esteem for more than two years, came for treatment to the
hospital. Cornell Dysthymia Rating Scale (CDRS) was used at the assessments of
before, after, and follow-ups of the therapeutic intervention. Pharmaco therapy (PT)
and combination of pharmaco and psychological therapies (PPT) were given to them
for 15 sessions, each comprising 50 minutes for the improvement of dysthymic
disorder. Results indicate a significant reduction of the symptoms in the patients
and better maintenance at follow-ups in both PT and PPT. Further the combination
of pharmaco and psychological therapies (PPT) is significantly more effective in
treating dysthymic woman patients than the pharmaco therapy (PT