[Prevention and treatment of mental disorders in women during the climacteric period]

The authors review problems of the treatment and prevention of mental disorders in climacteric women depending on the etiopathogenetic mechanisms of their origin. Group I included women with mental disorders accompanying vasomotor manifestations of the climacteric syndrome. To prevent and treat these disorders, of great importance is their diagnosis at the initial stage in the premenopausal period, particularly within the framework of the premenstrual syndrome. It is pathogenetically justified that this group patients be administered replacement hormonal therapy. Still, if mental disorders are aggravated, the hormonal drugs or their combinations with psychotropic agents should be withdrawn. Group II included women with psychogenous and endogenous mental diseases that occurred for the first time in the climacteric period. In this group patients, hormonal therapy should be withdrawn to prevent exacerbation of the health status and adequate treatment be instituted.