Perimenopause
The field of medicine has really grown in its appreciation for the need to understand factors that contribute to women’s vulnerability to depression. For example, there is much more understanding, outreach, and treatment for depression during pregnancy and postpartum today compared with 20 years ago.
But depression during perimenopause is even more frequent than depression during pregnancy, yet very little is known about it. The good news: The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) and the Women and Mood Disorders Task Force of the National Network of Depression Centers have released the first-ever guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of perimenopausal depression, published online on September 4, 2018, simultaneously in the journal Menopause and the Journal of Women's Health. These guidelines have also been endorsed by the International Menopause Society.
Related: 7 Common Myths About Depression
Related: 9 Different Types of Depression
According to Maki, an analysis of data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), in a report published in June 2015 in the journal Psychological Medicine, found that of perimenopausal and menopausal women, the risk for new onset depression (women who have never experienced depression before) is about 28
percent. For women who have a history of depression, that figure is 59 percent.
New evaluation and treatment recommendations are specific to perimenopause, the years before menopause, when women are especially vulnerable to mood problems.
By Beth Levine
September 11, 2018
The field of medicine has really grown in its appreciation for the need to understand factors that contribute to women’s vulnerability to depression. For example, there is much more understanding, outreach, and treatment for depression during pregnancy and postpartum today compared with 20 years ago.
But depression during perimenopause is even more frequent than depression during pregnancy, yet very little is known about it. The good news: The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) and the Women and Mood Disorders Task Force of the National Network of Depression Centers have released the first-ever guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of perimenopausal depression, published online on September 4, 2018, simultaneously in the journal Menopause and the Journal of Women's Health. These guidelines have also been endorsed by the International Menopause Society.
Related: 7 Common Myths About Depression
Breaking the Stigmas for Better Depression Care
“There is a lot of stigma around menopause generally, and we wanted to bring attention to this as another contributor to women’s higher prevalence of depression disorders,” says co-lead author Pauline M. Maki, PhD, of the department of psychiatry and the department of psychology at the University of Illinois in Chicago.Related: 9 Different Types of Depression
Depression Risk Is Higher During Perimenopause Than After a Women Reaches Menopause
Dr. Maki reports that data uniformly show that there is an increased risk in the years around the final menstrual period, as compared with the many years following the final menstrual period, because of this fluctuation. Estrogen levels may be low during menopause but at least they are somewhat stable. “That being said, the largest longitudinal study of women did indeed show that the risks do persist into the postmenopausal period,” she cautions.According to Maki, an analysis of data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), in a report published in June 2015 in the journal Psychological Medicine, found that of perimenopausal and menopausal women, the risk for new onset depression (women who have never experienced depression before) is about 28
percent. For women who have a history of depression, that figure is 59 percent.
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