Psychiatric Aspects of the Menopause

1990 ◽  
Vol 156 (6) ◽  
pp. 773-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. B. Ballinger

In the debates about the association between mental illness and the menopause, the psychiatric approach contradicts assertions by the gynaecological and psychoanalytic literature that the menopause has a negative effect on mental health. General population studies show that, if at all, psychiatric morbidity is more common in women in the five years before menopause. Sociocultural and family factors are more important in the aetiology of mental illness in menopausal women than physiological changes. Anxiety and depression in such women do not respond to oestrogen therapy, although some cases respond to antidepressants.

Author(s):  
Ziggi Ivan Santini ◽  
Hannah Becher ◽  
Maja Bæksgaard Jørgensen ◽  
Michael Davidsen ◽  
Line Nielsen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Previous literature has examined the societal costs of mental illness, but few studies have estimated the costs associated with mental well-being. In this study, a prospective analysis was conducted on Danish data to determine 1) the association between mental well-being (measured in 2016) and government expenditure in 2017, specifially healthcare costs and sickness benefit transfers. Methods Data stem from a Danish population-based survey of 3,508 adults (aged 16 + years) in 2016, which was linked to Danish registry data. A validated scale (WEMWBS) was used for the assessment of mental well-being. Costs are expressed in USD PPP. A two-part model was applied to predict costs in 2017, adjusting for sociodemographics, health status (including psychiatric morbidity and health behaviour), as well as costs in the previous year (2016). Results Each point increase in mental well-being (measured in 2016) was associated with lower healthcare costs ($− 42.5, 95% CI = $− 78.7, $− 6.3) and lower costs in terms of sickness benefit transfers ($− 23.1, 95% CI = $− 41.9, $− 4.3) per person in 2017. Conclusions Estimated reductions in costs related to mental well-being add to what is already known about potential savings related to the prevention of mental illness. It does so by illustrating the savings that could be made by moving from lower to higher levels of mental well-being both within and beyond the clinical range. Our estimates pertain to costs associated with those health-related outcomes that were included in the study, but excluding other social and economic outcomes and benefits. They cover immediate cost estimates (costs generated the year following mental well-being measurement) and not those that could follow improved mental well-being over the longer term. They may therefore be considered conservative from a societal perspective. Population approaches to mental health promotion are necessary, not only to potentiate disease prevention strategies, but also to reduce costs related to lower levels of mental well-being in the non-mental illness population. Our results suggest that useful reductions in both health care resource use and costs, as well as in costs due to sick leave from the workplace, could be achieved from investment in mental well-being promotion within a year.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 147997312110296
Author(s):  
Geertje M de Boer ◽  
Laura Houweling ◽  
Rudi W Hendriks ◽  
Jan H Vercoulen ◽  
Gerdien A Tramper-Stranders ◽  
...  

Population studies showed a decrease in psychological wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Asthma is associated with a negative effect on anxiety and depression, which might worsen during the COVID-19 lockdown. The aim of the study was to compare fear, anxiety and depression between asthma patients and patients wit hout asthma pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 pandemic. This study compares fear, anxiety and depression in asthma patients and controls between pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 lockdown with a cross-sectional online survey. Participants were invited to fill out several questionnaires pertaining to fear, anxiety, depression, asthma control and quality of life. Asthma patients (N = 37) displayed, during the course of the pandemic, a clinically relevant increase in anxiety (3.32 ± 2.95 vs. 6.68 ± 3.78; p < 0.001) and depression (1.30 ± 1.15 vs. 3.65 ± 3.31; p < 0.001), according to the hospital anxiety and depression levels (HADS) compared to pre-COVID-19 assessment. This was not seen in controls. Also, asthma patients displayed more anxiety about acquiring COVID-19 disease compared to controls ((5.11 ± 1.99 vs. 3.50 ± 2.79), p = 0.006). Patients with asthma experienced an increase in anxiety and depression levels and were more afraid of acquiring COVID-19 disease compared to controls. Also, patients with asthma were more likely to avoid healthcare facilities due to fear of acquiring COVID-19 disease compared to controls. Therefore, we advise health care workers to address these possible negative effects on mental health by phone or e-consults.


1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Krupinski

The origins of social psychiatry can be traced to the age of enlightenment and to the effects of the industrial revolution. Social psychiatry deals with social factors associated with psychiatric morbidity, social effects of mental illness, psycho-social disorders and social approaches to psychiatric care. Since the end of World War II up to the early seventies it has been claimed that social psychiatry should concentrate on the fight against war, poverty, racial discrimination, urban decay and all other social ills affecting people's mental health, and that the psychiatrist should be responsible for the mental health of the society. In contrast, sociology of mental health questioned the expertise of the psychiatrist and the very existence of mental illness, claiming that it covers deviant behaviour rejected by the society. The paper refutes this approach indicating that not the existence but the perception and presentation of psychiatric illness are socially determined. Acknowledging the contribution of sociology and social sciences to psychiatry, it is suggested that the heroic period of social psychiatry and the iconoclastic approach of sociology of mental health are over. However, social psychiatry, enriched by the use of epidemiological methods, has still much to offer to the daily practice of psychiatry.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waleed Ahmed Shahzad

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether anxiety and depression have a negative effect on academic performance. This small-scale study assessed the relationship between these factors. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out. A randomized sample of 52 high school students based in various schools across Lahore participated in the survey. Of the participants, 32 were males and 20 were females. As a measure of anxiety and depression 14 questions from the DASS-21 were utilized (The 7 questions pertaining to the measure of stress were not included in this study). Based on the DASS-21 score obtained by the respondents they were classified under categories of normal, mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe levels of anxiety and depression. As a measure of academic performance, the Grade Point Average (GPA) of the students was obtained via the survey. The mean average GPA was calculated for all the students falling under the aforementioned categories pertaining to anxiety and depression separately and these averages were compared. It was found that the mean average GPA was highest in students falling under the categories of normal and mild levels of anxiety and depression. Whereas, mean average GPA was lower in students suffering from severe levels of anxiety and depression. These findings suggest the need to come up with methods to combat anxiety and depression in high school students as these factors impede academic performance.


Author(s):  
V. Sujaritha ◽  
M. Partheeban ◽  
T. Thiviya ◽  
M. Sowmiya

Background: Stigma can prevent care and treatment of mentally ill. About 54% of diagnosable mental disorders are seen in primary care settings. There is a gross underestimation of psychiatric morbidity among patients by substantial proportion of non-psychiatric clinicians. Hence there is a need to assess the attitude towards mental illness among doctors and staff nurses. The objectives of the study were to assess the attitude towards mental illness among doctors and nurses, to compare the attitude between doctors and nurses, to find if there is any correlation between duration of training or posting and attitude, to find if educational status had any influence on attitude, to find if there is any gender influence on attitude. Methods: It is a cross sectional descriptive study conducted in a private medical college, Pondicherry among doctors and nurses who had completed their under graduation with a sample size of 221 (Doctors-120, Nurses-101). The instruments used were a semi-structured demographic profile and 34 items of OMICC (Opinion About Mental Illness in Chinese Community). The data was entered in Microsoft Excel 2013 analyzed using descriptive statistics, unpaired t-test, pearson’s correlation coefficient.Results: Only 25% of doctors and 4.9% of nurses positive attitude when overall score was considered. Doctors group had higher positive attitudes compared to nurses in domains separatism, stereotyping, benevolence and stigmatisation.Conclusions: There was no correlation between duration of psychiatry posting and attitude.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhang Liu ◽  
Zhongqun He ◽  
Yongdong Xie ◽  
Lihong Su ◽  
Ruijie Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the growth, physiological changes and mechanism of drought resistance of Phedimus aizoon L. under different levels of water content .CK: 75% ~ 80% of the MWHC (maximum water holding capacity), Mild drought: 55% ~ 60%, Moderate drought: 40% ~ 45%, Severe drought: 20% ~ 25%.We observed that the plants grew normally in the first two treatments, even the mild drought promoted the growth of the roots. In the last two treatments, drought stress had a significant negative effect on plant growth, at the same time, Phedimus aizoon L. also made positive physiological response to cope with the drought: The aboveground part of the plant (leaf, plant height, stem diameter) was smaller, the waxy layer of the leaves was thickened, the stomata of the leaves were closed during the day, and only a few stomata were opened at night, which proved that the dark reaction cycle metabolism mode of the plant was transformed from C3 cycle to CAM pathway. The activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD and CAT) was continuously increased to alleviate the damage caused by drought. To ensure the relative stability of osmotic potential, the contents of osmoregulation substances such as proline, soluble sugar, soluble protein and trehalose increased correspondingly. But plants have limited regulatory power, with aggravation of drought stress degree and extension of stress time, the MDA content and electrolyte leakage of leaves increased continuously. Observed under electron microscope,the morphology of chloroplast and mitochondria changed and the membrane structure was destroyed. The plant's photosynthetic and respiratory mechanisms are destroyed and the plant gradually die.


1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 220-220
Author(s):  
Rosalind Ramsay

The Marcé Society, a multidisciplinary group set up in 1980 to advance the understanding, prevention and treatment of post-partum mental illness, met in York for its biennial meeting last September to celebrate its tenth birthday. In the middle of the 19th century, Louis Marcé first drew attention to the special nature of psychiatric illness in the puerperium. Since then, as opening speaker, Dr Channi Kumar pointed out, although maternal morbidity has dropped dramatically, in particular over the last 40 years with improvements in obstetric care together with social, cultural and educational changes, psychiatric morbidity in the puerperium remains as prevalent as it was 100 years ago.


Endocrinology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 150 (9) ◽  
pp. 4248-4259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jazmin I. Acosta ◽  
Loretta Mayer ◽  
Joshua S. Talboom ◽  
Candy Wing S. Tsang ◽  
Constance J. Smith ◽  
...  

Abstract Clinical research suggests that type of ovarian hormone loss at menopause influences cognition. Until recently ovariectomy (OVX) has been the primary rodent model to examine effects of ovarian hormone loss on cognition. This model limits evaluations to abrupt and complete ovarian hormone loss, modeling less than 13% of women who receive surgical menopause. The majority of women do not have their ovaries surgically removed and undergo transitional hormone loss via ovarian follicular depletion. 4-Vinylcyclohexene-diepoxide (VCD) produces gradual ovarian follicular depletion in the rodent, with hormone profiles more similar to naturally menopausal women vs. OVX. We directly compared VCD and OVX models to examine whether type of hormone loss (transitional vs. surgical) impacted cognition as assessed on a maze battery as well as the cholinergic system tested via scopolamine mnemonic challenge and brain acetylcholinesterase activity. Middle-aged rats received either sham surgery, OVX surgery, VCD, or VCD then OVX to assess effects of removal of residual ovarian output after transitional menopause and follicular depletion. VCD-induced transitional menopause impaired learning of a spatial recent memory task; surgical removal of residual ovarian hormones by OVX abolished this negative effect of transitional menopause. Furthermore, transitional menopause before OVX was better for memory than an abrupt loss of hormones via OVX only. Surgical ovarian hormone loss, regardless of menopause history, increased hippocampal acetylcholinesterase activity. Circulating gonadotropin and androstenedione levels were related to cognitive competence. Collectively, findings suggest that in the rat, initiation of transitional menopause before surgical ovary removal can benefit mnemonic function and could obviate some negative cognitive consequences of surgical menopause alone.


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