Kendall Genre, M.D., Ochsner Medical Center
Question: Can menopause increase my risk of developing an anxiety disorder?
Answer: Menopause does not increase your risk of an anxiety disorder for women per se. However, in a large national prospective study, women were more likely to report during the perimenopause that they had an increase of mood symptoms. And some of these symptoms are anxiety spectrum symptoms like, in particular, irritability, nervousness and moodiness. Now women did not actually report symptoms that would qualify as anxiety disorder symptoms.
Menopause, interestingly, can be an increase-risk time for depression, for depression particularly in women who have had a history of premenstrual syndrome that is severe or prior depressions. But not, statically speaking, for anxiety disorders.
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