Sex hormones and psychological functioning in postmenopausal women

Women who seek medical care around the time of menopause frequently report changes in one or more aspects of psychological functioning. The etiology of these symptoms is likely multifactorial and, undoubtedly, individual and sociocultural factors are important determinants. The known psychotropic properties of the sex hormones provide reason to believe that the drastic decrease in sex steroid production at menopause is also causally related to the development of psychological symptoms in some women. Indeed, prospective, controlled studies show that exogenous estrogen administered to postmenopausal women alleviates depressive symptoms in a dose-dependent manner. Second, accumulating evidence is beginning to suggest that estrogen helps to maintain verbal memory in aging women to the exclusion of effects on visual memory or on other cognitive functions. Finally, whereas exogenous estrogen is important for the integrity of genital tissues, it would now seem that testosterone is the hormone most critically implicated in the maintenance of libido, or sexual desire, in women just as it is in men.