Study finds that menopause is often incorrectly linked to depression

“I was wondering if menopause significantly increases the risk of depression,” Brown said. “Social, psychological, and hormonal factors can all work together and combine to increase the risk of depression.”

not hot flashes

But after reviewing more than a dozen studies of menopausal women who reported symptoms of depression or major depression, researchers found that menopause causes a universally increased risk for both conditions. No convincing evidence could be found. To reach that conclusion, they focused only on prospective studies that observed groups of women over time.

They also tried to distinguish what women actually mean when they say they suffer from depression.

Researchers found that many of those who became depressed were women who had previously already suffered from depression or other mental health issues, or who were dealing with certain life events. did. For example, one study found that women who suffered from frequent “hot flashes” or recent stressful life events had an increased risk of depression, but women who had no stressful life events had a higher risk of depression. We found that there was no increased risk for patients, Brown said. .

Researchers also found some studies describing menopausal women as suffering from depression, but that they had only symptoms of depression and were less likely to have a full-blown “mental health disorder.” Depression is also a low-level form of depression, which is more severe and persistent, and is commonly diagnosed with symptoms such as: Brown, the clinician, said.

“Some studies found a slightly increased risk of depression, but in some studies it wasn't, and in other studies it was about risk factors. “They are not universally and uniformly at risk for depression,” Brown said. “We're not saying it doesn't matter. But we're saying it's much more subtle than that.”

And that means women like herself won't have to fear menopause as this dark and depressing place, she said.

Not all menopausal women experience depression

The message of this paper is that we don't want women to panic, because they need to understand that depression is not a universal problem with the transition to menopause. This is a subgroup issue, said Hadeen Joffe, interim director of psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Hospital and executive director of the Connors Center for Women's Health. She is also a co-author of this paper.

“It's hard to tell the public these things because you don't want to underestimate it. And you also don't want to overestimate it,” Joffe said. “We want to make sure that menopause itself is not connected in a universal sense to this harmful problem, because it is not.”

But the powerful media images out there would lead you to believe otherwise, she said. She jokes that when you search for “menopause” and “mood” on Google, “Her seven dwarfs of menopause: itchy, itchy, sleepy, sweaty, bloated, forgetful, psychotic!” I pointed out that it would appear.

“We don't want people to feel fear or expect fear, but we also want them to be prepared if they're in that vulnerable subgroup,” Joffe said. he said.

Rachel Weiss, a psychotherapist and founder of Menopause Cafe, a community for discussing menopause-related issues, said she started the cafe in 2017 because no one was talking about menopause. Now the pendulum has swung the other way, the topic has become sensationalized, the media treats it like a medical illness that requires medication, and celebrities tell horrifying stories about their menopausal experiences.

“People in their 40s and 30s get really scared when they think, 'Oh my god, what will happen to me when I'm 50?' It's going to drive me crazy.” “The Lancet paper was fun,” Weiss said. “Because it seems to me that the Lancet paper is resetting that pendulum somewhere in the middle.”

Weiss said she doesn't want to downplay the challenges of menopause, such as lack of sex drive, sleep problems, and physical changes such as loss of hair and increased wrinkles.

“Like depression and anxiety, menopause can increase stress,” Weiss says. “If you're like us, just trying to get by and juggling the balls, and you have depression, anxiety, or neurodiversity on top of that, menopause is often the straw that breaks the camel's back. It could become.”

Brett Thomas, professor of medicine at McGill University and director of the Depression Screening Data Project, called the paper a clarion call for those in the mental health field to reconsider their beliefs about menopause and depression. I have said so far.

“People have been saying for decades that women are at increased risk of mental illness during menopause as if it were true, but the evidence uncovered in this paper shows that's simply not true. Not,” Thomas said.

Indeed, there is growing concern in the research community that menopause is being overly pathologised, and that women are approaching middle age with more anxiety than research warrants. said Tania Perich, a psychologist and researcher at the University of Sydney. Depression and bipolar disorder.

“I was shocked that so little research had been done on it, because 50% of people go through menopause,” she said. “Therefore, we believe that there are not enough studies conducted to draw a definitive conclusion.”

Perich said that while she welcomed the Lancet paper, she did not want to minimize the impact of menopause on women. Hormonal changes caused by menopause may be associated with depression, and women who experience such symptoms should seek treatment and support.

“Some clients who come to me are convinced that their depression is caused by menopause,” she said. “I would never go to a client and say, 'Oh, no, it's definitely not menopause' because of research.”

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