Hi Kittykat,

I have had dysthymia for 53 years and have been in therapy on and off for 30 years, so hopefully what I have learned along the way might help.

When I start sliding into a depression, one thing I start to do (and a lot of people with depression do this) is ruminate. That is, I run things/thoughts/scenarios etc through my mind, over and over. It can be existential questions, how your presentation at work went, reliving embarrassing moments (my personal favorite) or any number of things. It's like a cow chewing her cud over and over and over and over.... (they are ruminants, you know.)

The first thing I have to do is recognize when these thoughts are occurring. Even after all this time, they can sneak in and start wreaking havoc. But forewarned is forearmed and when I do figure it out the next thing is to stop them. I try to do an activity that i know in the past has improved my mood, such as talking to my family on the phone, re-reading a favorite book, baking, etc. It also helps me to remind myself that this is not a
legit" problem, as you put it. It's not always easy, I'll admit.

Hope this gives you some ideas. There are several articles on rumination on this website also.