Depression and Anxiety in PCOS, 3- prong approach to PCOS

Majority of the patients with PCOS, if not all, complain about mood swings and emotional disturbances.

Some of them feel extremely distressed and guilty about how it affects them and their families. Most of them are not aware that they are prone to depression and anxiety due to the PCOS condition.

Here are a couple of studies about prevalence of depression and anxiety in PCOS.

• Depression in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: clinical and biochemical correlates

Findings suggest a high prevalence of depression among women with PCOS, and an association between depression and PCOS markers.

• Prevalence and risk of depressive disorders in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

This comparative cross-sectional study found that women with polycystic ovary syndrome are at a significantly higher risk of depression compared with non-PCOS women.

Women with PCOS may experience uncontrolled and sudden anger, unpredictable mood disturbances, feeling of worthlessness, lack of motivation, over reaction, low stress threshold and disturbed sleep. They may find themselves being forgetful, feeling scattered, finding it difficult to focus for long duration and also brain fog.

The first step to deal with this is acceptance. The awareness that the PCOS condition is causing these symptoms helps to understand the symptoms from a different perspective. The awareness that the symptoms are not caused by lack of will power and one is not ‘losing it’ can bring a shift in how the patient can deal with it more effectively.