The Beijing Morning News reported recently that almost half of women seeking medical help for menopausal symptoms at a major Beijing hospital had emotional problems.

But the majority of women at this stage in life are unaware of this, not to mention the opportunity to receive relevant medical treatment.

Bai Wenpei, a women's health doctor, said menopause often starts when a woman is around 45 years old and involves such symptoms as fever, sweating, mood swings etc., among which the blues are most often ignored.

A recent survey shows that about 42 percent of menopausal women have symptoms of depression, but only 8 percent receive treatment with anti-depression medicines.

Taking such medicines do not mean the person has a mental disorder, said Bai. She believed women have emotional problems because not only due to hormone fluctuations but because their lives are often at a transitional period in middle age.

They often have to face embarrassment at work because of their age, and they also have to experience the pain of letting their grown-up children go.

Bai suggested middle-aged women should receive regular medical checks and should not shun anti-depression medicines if they have emotional problems.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2003)