In fact, a study conducted in London found that premature menopause was associated with higher than average levels of depression. Their loss of reproductive capacity. The sudden switch from fertile woman to irrevocably infertile woman was the biggest blow of all. To make matters even more difficult, fertility is more than just the actual biological ability to have children. It symbolizes much more than this to yourself and to society.
Fertility is youth, womanhood, the essence of being female.
It is a substantial part of how we define ourselves as women. So, when the ability to have a child is suddenly stripped from you before the normal age, you often feel like less of a woman. You just don't feel whole any more. I wouldn't have necessarily believed this if I hadn't talked to so many women who said the same thing. . . In fact, I never really realized how much the idea of being fertile was a part of my self-image.