Depression And Menopause: The Role Of Depression In Women

Damn, these hot flashes! If I say middle age women, what is the first thing you think of? Most people would probably say menopause or bottles of wine. But does the word depression ever come to mind? High depression rates in women aged 45 to 55 has remained steady for years. Why is this? It may be because depression and menopause share a common link. 
Depression, according to the American Psychiatric Association, is a “serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think, and how you act.” Depression is a result of changes in your brain’s chemical makeup. Other factors, including genetics, stress or changes of hormone levels can all contribute to depression. Everyone experiences this illness differently and there
are countless symptoms. However, many of the common indicators of depression include: prolonged sadness, changes in sleep schedules, significant weight loss or weight gain, irritability, anxiety, and thoughts of death or suicide. Approximately 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men will experience depression at least once throughout their lifetime.
Why do women tend to experience depression more frequently than men? One main reason is because women go through more hormone changes throughout their lifetime. Women go through puberty sooner than their male counterparts and are thus more likely to experience depression at a younger age. Women also go through significant hormone changes during pregnancy and can experience depression while pregnant, as well as post-partum depression. However, women go through yet another major change to their hormone levels during their lifetime. Depression rates tend to rise significantly before, during, and after women experience menopause. This is the type of depression I would like to discuss today.
Menopause is the stage in a woman’s life where her menstruation cycle ends.
This is caused when the body stops producing the hormones estrogen and progesterone (medlineplus.org). There are three main stages of menopause, beginning with perimenopause, which transitions into menopause, before finally ending with postmenopause. Perimenopause is the beginning stage where a woman’s period starts to become irregular and some symptoms may appear. Women tend to reach this stage around 45, however, it can begin as early as late 30s and mid-40s. Eventually, menstruation ends completely and more symptoms begin to appear around the age of 50. Some of the common symptoms of menopause include: “hot flashes”, night sweats, changes in sleep patterns or trouble sleeping, fatigue, stress, extreme mood swings, vaginal dryness, hair loss, and trouble concentrating. The journey through menopause varies from woman to woman and there is no set time or degree of symptoms a woman may endure during this
time.
After discussing the side effects of both depression and menopause, the adverse effects are incredibly similar. Symptoms such as changes in sleep patterns, mood swings, fatigue, stress, and trouble concentrating can be used to describe both of these medical conditions. Because these symptoms are so similar, women going through menopause believe themselves to also be depressed. According to Mental Health America, “more than a half of women believe that it is normal for a woman to be depressed during menopause.” They also claim that over half of women surveyed also believed that “depression is a normal part of aging.”
This could be due to the fact that a lot of women going through menopause feel as though they are not “true women” as they can no longer reproduce. One example is of a woman I interviewed, aged 49. She experienced painful, irregular periods around her early 40’s alongside symptoms such as moodiness. She explained that she felt depressed, mainly because “it dawns on you that you can’t give life anymore.” Of course, not all women feel this way. Another woman I spoke to, aged 55, made it clear she was fine with not having the same reproductive freedom as she once had. Between working and being a single mother, she had much more on her plate than worrying about bring another life into this world.
The first woman I interviewed also went on to explain that she felt as though depression during menopause is unavoidable. After her hysterectomy, the symptoms she had experienced subsided substantially. She described how her feelings of depression went away entirely after this procedure and how she felt as though the feelings and signs of these two medical afflictions were intertwined. The other woman felt the exact opposite. While she agreed that many women probably do experience symptoms of depression during menopause, it is entirely possible to go through menopause without actually being depressed as she had.
So, are these two conditions really connected?
As proven by these two women, the process of menopause is completely unique for everyone. There is no scientific proof that menopause causes depression. Not every woman that goes through menopause reports experiencing symptoms of depression. Until science can prove there is an indisputable link between the two, it will remain questionable. However, the fact that both of these medical maladies are no doubt similar and their symptoms tend to overlap shows that there may be more to this than it seems.
In conclusion, depression and menopause are linked to a certain degree. Depression rates tend to remain high in women, especially those age-ranged 45 to 55. This is largely due to menopause. And while there will always be other causes for depression, such as unemployment, trauma, and grief, menopause will remain one of the leading causes of depression for middle aged women. That, and maybe discovering the bottle of wine is
empty.