Psychiatric aspects of endocrine disorders in women

Endocrine disorders are associated with significant psychiatric morbidity. Psychiatric symptoms may manifest as discreet psychiatric syndromes or, more commonly, with a heterogenous group of nonspecific symptoms. Research is needed to understand the relations between hormone excess or deficiency and alterations of mood, cognition, and perception. It is important for clinicians to carefully screen for psychiatric morbidity in patients who present with endocrine disorders. Moreover, patients who appear to present with primary psychiatric syndromes should be carefully evaluated by physical examination and biochemical screening when appropriate to exclude the presence of an underlying endocrine disorder.