involutional melancholia

American

noun

Psychiatry.

(formerly) extreme depression related to menopause or, less frequently, the male climacteric.

Etymology

Origin of involutional melancholia

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Secretary of Defense James Forrestal committed suicide in 1949 while hospitalized for involutional melancholia.

From Time Magazine Archive

More astonishing than the play were the players : housewives and secretaries suffering from involutional melancholia or agitated schizophrenia, mechanics or plumbers in manic-depressive states.

From Time Magazine Archive

Doctors found him to be suffering from involutional melancholia and depressive psychosis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Allegedly ridden with involutional melancholia, depressive psychosis, and heart disease, Hoppy sucked cough drops to stave off a cold.

From Time Magazine Archive

We have not observed in our cases of involutional melancholia any undue tendency to give individual reactions.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023