The term ?depression? has many meanings in the contemporary world. In everyday language it is used to indicate a bad disposition, reduced mood, and low spirits, regardless of the causes of such condition.
In psychiatry this term applies to a specific kind of mood and emotion disorders that can be considered as a disease. The condition for proper diagnosis of depression is to treat it as a syndrome rather than a symptom of another disease or the expression of psychosocial difficulties (1).

A 48-year-old patient treated at the Department of Psychiatry of Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz was examined for mood disorders that had appeared in the period of menopause and had persisted for 2 months before her going to the clinic. The patient had no somatic diseases. Over the last year she gained 12 kg, which negatively affected her general psychophysical condition. Before administering psychiatric treatment, the patient showed first degree obesity (BMI = 31.1).
In order to evaluate the mood, a questionnaire was used ? the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), completed by the patient on her own (tab. 1). The patient completed the questionnaire twice: before the intended psychiatric treatment and 6 weeks after administering anti-depressive treatment. Throughout the whole period of therapy the patient was treated with sertraline, 50 mg a day, and was administered 50 mg of trazodone for the night.

With regard to the treatment for depression, a clinically significant improvement in the patient was observed over the subsequent 6 and 12 weeks of treatment. Over six weeks the degree of depression was reduced from moderate (BDI = 32) to mild (BDI = 22), and after 12 weeks a lack of depression was diagnosed (BDI = 10). The Beck questionnaire turned out to be an easy tool to apply in the patient during the menopausal period. It is worth emphasizing that the examined person showed the following dominant features of depression: the feeling of sadness, anxiety about the future, aversion to herself, concern about her appearance and sexual attractiveness, the feeling of irritation, and sleep difficulties. The patient did not report suicidal thoughts.
The total result of BDI was significantly influenced by the assessments concerning appearance and health, namely the ones that can be associated with the patient?s health situation. Such a profile of results obtained in particular items of the Beck questionnaire indicates psychological rather than biological (endogenous) cause of the lowered mood. The patient?s body mass after 12 weeks was reduced; the patient did not show first degree obesity, only overweight (BMI = 27).