Why depression in women is so misunderstood

Identifying and treating menopausal depression is needed,
Professor Jayashri Kulkarni argues in her Nature Outlook essay

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni has published an essay in Nature Outlook, asking why depression in women is so misunderstood. The focus in this essay is on menopausal depression. She says it takes a huge toll, but is not widely recognised or adequately funded and is under-researched.

Professor Kulkarni writes, "Improving outcomes for people with menopause-related depression requires some significant changes. 

"Most importantly, psychiatrists and other mental-health practitioners who treat women in their 40s and 50s need to enquire about menopause at the outset of treatment, and be willing to prescribe hormone therapies. 

"In addition, clinicians and health-care students alike need to be better educated about this phase of women’s lives. A big part of clinicians’ reluctance to prescribe HRT for menopausal depression is the lack of knowledge about menopause — particularly how it affects the brain."

Read the essay: www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02213-w