There is a higher incidence of depression in women and, although the exact reason is unknown, it may be due to those hormonal changes that women experience, but not men, and that can lead to depression.
Because when we talk about depression in pregnancy, postpartum depression, depression in menopause or even premenstrual syndrome, we are talking about hormonal variations or imbalances. There is hormonal depression, but like any type of depression, it has treatment.
How hormones influence depression
- Basically there are three hormones that influence depression. How could it be otherwise, estrogens are among this group of hormones that determine our mood, as occurs in menopause, for example. And it is that estrogens maintain serotonin at adequate levels, in addition to regulating the sleep cycle.
- For its part, progesterone helps regulate estrogen levels and also helps calm nervousness and bad mood. Thus, we can better understand all those symptoms of menopause, those of premenstrual syndrome and the emotional problems derived from pregnancy.
- There is still another hormone whose variations can lead to depression, which is cortisol, responsible, among other things, for nervousness, mood swings, fatigue, increased abdominal fat and even decreased libido.
Treatment of hormonal depression
- In this way, hormonal changes are one of the most frequent causes of depression, in addition to explaining all those obvious changes in the mood of women, which have to do with their reproductive cycle. Key points of the age of the woman in which we can be more sensitive to depression are adolescence, pregnancy and menopause.
- But like any type of depression, hormonal depression also has its treatment. In this case, drug treatment with antidepressants should be accompanied by other treatments that regulate hormone levels. And of course, to avoid relapses and strengthen our emotional balance, psychological treatment cannot be missing.
- We would like to stress the importance of seeing a specialist at the first symptoms of depression, in order to avoid major depressive disorder or chronic depression. And forget about that idea that emotional problems derived from hormonal imbalances are something that we must assume as part of our nature.