Healing Depression Through Balancing Hormones

Hysterectomies and Depression

The relationship between mood changes, hormone imbalances, and the menstrual cycle has been recognized for many years. A hysterectomy (surgery to remove the ovaries and/or uterus) was actually once a common treatment for women that were suffering from 'hysteria' or other mood disorders.

The reason why the ovaries were removed was that they are the source of female hormones, and fluctuating hormone levels are one cause of depression, hysteria and mood problems. Luckily times have changed and there are more helpful rather than harmful therapies to help to balance hormones.

Women have Higher Rates of Depression around Menopause

It's known that a larger proportion of women suffer from depression in comparison to men. In fact they have nearly a two-fold greater lifetime risk. It's thought that this increased risk is due to hormonal changes that women often experience throughout their life. These changes in estrogen and progesterone occur during pregnancy, after child-birth (postnatal period), prior to menopause, as well as during every monthly menstrual cycle. In fact, one very interesting study looking at peri-menopausal women (45-50 years of age), it was found that for the 2 years surrounding the women's final period (menses) the risk of depression was fourteen times higher than for the thirty-one years prior.

The Older Depressed Man May also Suffer from A Hormone Deficiency

Women aren't the only ones that can have depression because of a hormonal imbalance. It's not uncommon for older men to have a testosterone deficiency. In fact, it has also been shown that thirty percent of men after the age of fifty-five have a testosterone deficiency. In addition, men with depression are 2.7 times more likely to have low testosterone levels than men without depression.

Because testosterone levels decline with age, it is often misinterpreted that the symptoms of a testosterone deficiency i.e. "depression, muscle loss, memory loss, lower sex drive", are just a normal part of the aging process. And although it is part of the aging process, you simply don't have to put up with the associated negative feelings and physical symptoms. They are easily treated.

But Wait there's More!

Testosterone, and the female hormones estrogen and progesterone, aren't the only hormones that can be involved in depression. In fact thyroid hormone imbalances and adrenal hormone imbalances can also be a factor.

To figure out what's the underlying cause of your depression, and whether it has a hormonal factor, you could look at the symptoms of the different hormone deficiencies and see if you suffer from any of them.

If you're interested in completing questionnaires that assess your symptoms for all 5 hormonal imbalances, as well as more than 15 other biochemical imbalances that can lead to depression get your copy of Dr Janelle Sinclair's landmark book "Breaking free: Exposing the Biochemical Causes of your Depression" by visiting www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/ebook today.

Get yourself a copy of my free 8 page report which shows you the physical or biochemical causes of depression and natural treatment strategies to help stop depression robbing your life.

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