Psychosocial conditioning of depressive disorders in post-menopausal women.

Studies confirm that the period prior to, during, and some time after menopause are the times of increase risk of the development of depressive disorders. It is indicated that the level of depression at this stage of a woman's life depends on the time which had elapsed since the onset of menopause and a number of demographic and psychosocial factors. The objective of the study was evaluation of selected psychosocial factors determining the level of depression in postmenopausal women. The study was conducted in 2011, among 364 rural and 382 urban women living in the south-eastern areas of Poland. Women aged 52-60, who had stopped menstruating within the last three years, and had delivered at least one child, were selected for the study. Analysis of the results of the studies shows that the psychosocial situation of Polish women at postmenopausal age varies. Rural postmenopausal women more often had a poorer material standard than urban women, and also had a significantly higher statistically level of depression. The level of depression among rural and urban women in the study differed and was related with education level, family, and occupational situation, as well as the level of satisfaction with social and sex life. The presents study shows that women living in the rural areas are to a greater extent exposed to the occurrence of depressive symptoms. Due to the scale of the phenomenon, at this stage, these women should receive support not only from a psychiatrist, to whom they still too rarely report in Poland, but primarily to a family physician or a gynecologist