You're right-- the market is so super-saturated with antidepressants that Pfizer needs something to "distinguish" Pristiq. Sort of like Prozac being approved for "premenstrual dysphoric disorder" or Abilify being approved for "agitation in autism."

This seems to be what's happening to psychiatry in general: new niches are being created (out of thin air, it seems) for all the me-too drugs, when older meds (or no meds at all) would have done just fine.

[sarcasm on] Good!
Menopause became a medical condition. I am looking forward to pre-menstruation diagnosis. Till menstruation girls are not healthy enough.[/sarcams, off]

Any woman wanting advice on dealing with the physical and emotional rollercoaster of menopause should read "The Gift of Menopause" by Christiane Northrup, MD.

She's a physician specializing in women's health. Most of her advice involves natural remedies, OTC hormones, and psychological soul-searching; she steers clear of A/D's exept to say that if you really feel you must take them, stay on for only a few months.

BTW, I think it's very important if you're a middle- aged woman going thru perimopause not to panic if you have big mood swings; that's a normal part of the process. Don't let a psychiatrist tell you you might be bipolar.(Speaking from personal experience here. All of the psychs who suggested that to me were women too young to have experienced such menopausal mood swings; maybe if they'd been 60 they'd have been more liable to see mine for what they were.)