Dysthymia is a mood disorder consisting of chronic depression, but with less severity than major depressive disorder. The concept was coined by Dr Robert Spitzer (an editor of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a replacement for the term "depressive personality" in the late 1970s. According to the DSM's new definition, dysthymia is a type of mild depression. Harvard Health Publications states that "the Greek word dysthymia means 'bad state of mind' or 'ill humor'. As one of the two chief forms of clinical depression, it usually has fewer or less serious symptoms than major depression but lasts longer...