The Myth of Involutional Melancholia

Abstract

Depressions occurring in the menopausal years do not fit the description in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edition 2. Depressed patients who are in the menopausal years do not have a distinct symptom pattern, an absence of previous episodes, or an absence of life-stress precipitants. The evidence thus far supports the decision to exclude involutional melancholia, as currently defined, from the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edition 3.