Depression: The Psychological effect of Menopause on Women

Abstract

The present research was aimed to explore the impact of menopause on the development of the symptoms of depression among women. The hypothesis of the study states, women with symptoms of menopause would experience more depression than women without the symptoms of menopause. Personal information questionnaire, and Siddique Shah Depression Scale (Shah, S, 2010) were used (for the assessment of the symptoms of depression). A sample of the study comprised 300 women, i.e. 150 women with menopausal symptoms and 150 women without menopausal symptoms. The mean age of the subjects with symptoms of menopause ranged between 45 to 55, and the mean age of the subjects without the symptoms of menopause was 25 to 35. Data of Subjects with the symptoms of menopause was collected from local private Gynaecologists’ clinics of Hyderabad, Sindh. Data of subjects without the symptoms of menopause was collected from family members, friends, and relatives. The data was analyzed with the help of mean, standard deviation, and t – test with the help of SPSS version 22. The results revealed the significant difference between the scores of both groups of the sample, (t=4. 004) Subjects with the diagnosis of menopause symptoms received greater scores on the Siddique Shah Depression scale than subjects without menopausal symptoms.