Psychiatric morbidity and the menopause

A sample consisting of Menopausal, pre menopausal and post menopausal women in the age range of 36 to 50 years was studied using a two stage screening procedure for identifying and assessing psychiatric morbidity. The screening device, General Health questionnaire (GHQ) identified 21 of the 105 women studied as 'possible cases'. On further interviews using standard psychiatric interview (SPI) a higher proportion of menopausal women were found to be psychiatrically ill. The predominant symptom in the Menopausal group was depression. Both menopausal women and women who had undergone hysterectomy (surgical menopause) received higher mean ratings on SPI. The inter-rater reliability of SPI was found to be high and was comparable to those reported by original authors.