[Psychosocial aspects of the climacteric]

Medicine has till now payed less attention to psychosocial aspects of the menopause than to the hormonal changes of woman in this period of life. The climacteric woman is characterized in the language of the organ-medicine by faulty terms. The lack of hormones is considered to be a disease which has to be treated. The tendency to medicalize the menopause is in contradiction to the results of recent prospective studies. These studies show that pre- and postmenopausal complaints are less severe than they are often described. Psychosocial risk factors before and during the climacteric phase favour the development of psychic and psychosomatic symptoms. The climacteric period of life has to be seen as a vulnerable time of life which should be considered in the treatment of menopausal women.