Clinical depression vs menopause

Article summary

Did you find this summary helpful?

Thank you for your feedback

It can be difficult to distinguish primary clinical depression from perimenopausal symptoms of depression.

	Perimenopausal depression	Clinical depression
Frequency of symptoms	Symptoms can fluctuate and may be worse before a period	Low mood is usually sustained and varies little from day to day
Associated symptoms	Other perimenopausal symptoms are likely to be present such as menstrual changes or hot flushes	Biological symptoms of depression such as reduced appetite and weight loss may be more prominent than menstrual changes
Age	Perimenopausal symptoms usually begin in the 40s	Depression can occur at any age
Prior mental health history	For many women this might be the first presentation of mood disturbance or there may be a history of mood disturbance caused by hormones in the past such as premenstrual syndrome or post-natal depression	There may be a prior diagnosis of mood disorder, although clinical depression can manifest for the first time in perimenopause

NICE says consider HRT to alleviate mild depressive symptoms with onset in association with other menopause symptoms.
NICE says consider cognitive behavioural therapy for depressive symptoms associated with the menopause AND for people experiencing menopause who are suspected to have, or are diagnosed, with depression, consider recommendations on both together to achieve an optimal treatment plan.
For the treatment of depression, see NICE guideline.

NOTE:

GAD-7 is a screening questionnaire for generalised anxiety disorder and PHQ-9 is a screening assessment for depression.

References and Further Information:

Was this article helpful?