Menopause comprises three stages and lasts for one-third of a woman’s life on average. However, the initial stage is when many women experience a variety of psychiatric illnesses, and this is when gynaecologists must also provide counselling.
Rajkot: As a result of living in nuclear households and shifting societal dynamics, more women are being compelled to seek psychiatric counselling for a variety of mental health difficulties related to menopause.
Doctors claim that as the average age at which girls begin their menstrual cycle has decreased, so too is the age at which they reach menopause.
The founder of the Indian Menopause Society’s Rajkot branch, Dr Jyoti Shah, stated that women have hormonal imbalances during this time. Now that most families are nuclear, women frequently experience loneliness because their children have either left for college overseas or have become immersed in their own hobbies. Husbands often work for themselves or run their own businesses. Many women experience a void in their lives, which leads to psychological issues.
According to medical professionals, India’s life expectancy has improved, and a woman’s average lifespan is now 70 years. Menopause includes three stages and lasts for one-third of a woman’s life on average. However, many women have a variety of psychiatric issues in the first stage, for which gynaecologists must also provide counselling.
Some of the symptoms they exhibit include anxiety mixed with despair, sleeplessness, hot flashes, and getting annoyed over small things.
At the same time, menopause merely exacerbates the issues that some women already have. Dr Shah continued, “We are seeing intellectually strong ladies also sinking into depression during this period.”
Gynaecologist Dr Darshan Sureja stated that while many girls’ menstrual cycles used to start at an earlier age of 11 or 12, this is no longer the case. Menopause has the same symptoms, and some women reach it earlier than others. We frequently see women who beg doctors for medicine to stave off menopause because they struggle to accept it as the new normal.
