Clinical Observation of Personality Characteristics of Perimenopausal Women with Undefined Complaints

Personality tests, including the Self-Rating Questionnaire for Depression (SRQ-D), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Alexithymia Scale (MMPI-AS), and the Egogram Check List (ECL) were completed by 202 perimenopausal women with undefined complaints. Patients diagnosed as having mental disorders showed SRQ-D scores of over 16 points. Patients diagnosed as having mental disorders showed MMPI-AS scores of over 13 points, which can be estimated as alexithymia. Patients experiencing climacteric disorders and the ovarian deficiency syndrome showed slightly higher MMPI-AS scores than healthy middle-aged women. The average ECL scores of patients diagnosed as having mental disorders tended to show an N-shape pattern. The findings suggest that personality tests would be helpful for screening perimenopausal women with mental disorders who are seen at outpatient gynecology clinics.