Pavilion Health Today
Supporting healthcare professionals to deliver the best patient care

Menopause and depression

Understanding and interpreting menopausal symptoms can be difficult for GPs, especially so when depression may be obscuring the diagnosis. This article looks at the relationship between the two conditions, and considers how GPs can best navigate the possible prescribing and treatment options

Depression is common. One in four women and one in 10 men have depression which is severe enough to require treatment.1 Depression is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5)2 as the presence of 5 or more defining symptoms, present for at least 2 weeks, which cause distress and impairment to function. NICE guidelines on the diagnosis of depression advise that a diagnosis can be made if there is the presence of at least one ‘core symptom’ and more than five ‘defining symptoms’.1 The pathophysiology of depression is multifactorial and not fully understood. Familial associations have

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Alice Scott

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