Menopause and Mental Health: More support needed

If you've been through menopause or know someone who has, you likely know menopause can make you a hot mess or cause other symptoms that can affect your mood. But does it cause women to become "hysterical" and transform them into a 'mental mess?'

The answer is a resounding No!

But mood and mental health and menopause have been tightly linked in high-income countries since at least 1816 when Charles-Pierre-Louis de Gardanne wrote that “hysteria, or nervous affection of the uterus” was a typical symptom of the menopause. The words hysterectomy and hysteria are derived from the Greek word "hystera," meaning womb. ?

A new study in the British journal Lancet studied the association between menopause and mental health by summarizing 12 large previously reported studies to arrive at their conclusions. A few key points of the study are below:

• All the hype about menopause leading to anxiety and depression may shape a woman's expectations and experiences
• Psychological symptoms are not an absolute, though some anxiety and depressive symptoms are common
• If you are a woman who has severe hot flashes, chronically can't sleep, your life is a stressful mess, or you've been previously clinically depressed, it will put you at more risk of depression in menopause. How could it not?
• Psychological symptoms that occur during the menopause transition may not be due to hormonal changes; but if they are, using hormonal treatments may significantly improve symptoms
• Not in this study, but from my own experience spending six years treating women in a psychiatry department who were entering perimenopause or menopause and had a previously existing mental health diagnosis, treating the menopausal symptoms may make controlling their mental health diagnosis much easier to manage

The authors of the study point out that only 6-8 percent of U.S. trainee physicians felt that they were adequately trained to treat menopause symptoms. Another study that was not mentioned found that only 30 percent of OB/GYN trainees receive any training in menopause.

To me, the most important points that this study brings out are that:

• Menopause may affect a woman's mental health, especially if she has had a prior episode of depression or her symptoms are out of control.
• Clinicians need more training in menopause and until they receive it, send their perimenopause and menopause patients to clinicians who do have adequate training.
• 85 percent of women going through menopause will have mild to moderate symptoms, and 10-15 percent will have severe menopause symptoms. Clinicians need to be ready for that and offer treatments or referrals for assistance.
• Because every woman who lives long enough will go through menopause, which can affect the woman personally, affect her relationships, and affect her if she is a working woman, more attention should be given to menopause and mental health both at home and at work.

If you would like an easy-to-understand guide on menopause symptoms and how to treat them, CLICK HERE to receive a 50 percent discount on Dr. Mache's Menopause Guidebook.