Nine in 10 menopausal women suffer mental health issues, research suggests

Exclusive: ‘We see people who are house-hound and too scared to go out. They stop driving or stop going on transport,’ menopause specialist GP tells Maya Oppenheim

Majority of 3.4 million women between 50 and 64 in UK will be experiencing symptoms of menopause (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Nine in 10 women going through menopause experience mental health issues, with many suffering “crippling” anxiety and depression, new research has suggested.

Healthcare providers told The Independent many people only associate menopause with physical symptoms such as hot flushes but the mental health repercussions are far more “crippling”.

The majority of the 3.4 million women between 50 and 64 in the UK will be experiencing symptoms of the menopause – with these ranging from heart palpitations to hot flushes, vaginal pain and changes in mood.

The largest menopause clinic in the UK, which sees around 1,500 menopausal women each month, said nine in 10 are struggling with their mental health.

Research carried out by Newson Health Menopause & Wellbeing Centre, in Stratford-upon Avon, shared exclusively with The Independent, found more than half of women have either cut their working hours or taken time off due to mental health issues triggered by the menopause.

The study, which surveyed over 1,100 women going through the menopause, discovered 10 per cent of women give up work altogether and 51 per cent cut their working hours, while 52 per cent have taken days off due to their symptoms.

Dr Louise Newson, a GP and menopause specialist who is co-director of the clinic, told The Independent they see at least one emergency patient each week who has been booked in at short notice due to having suicidal thoughts.

But Dr Newson stressed that not all women who come into the clinic are suffering from such severe symptoms – with some instead experiencing low mood, as well as anxiety or depression.

The power of hormones in the female brain is so much and it is just neglected

Dr Louise Newson, GP and menopause specialist

She added: “But the anxiety can be crippling. It is often mental health symptoms that stop people working and functioning and giving up jobs.

“Everyone thinks of hot flushes and sweats when they think of menopause. We see people who are house-hound and too scared to go out. They stop driving or stop going on transport. The power of hormones in the female brain is so much and it is just neglected unfortunately.”

She said many of these women know it is their hormones triggering their symptoms but psychiatrists and doctors are not recognising the symptoms.

One 49-year-old patient, who chose to remain anonymous, said her mother had killed herself back in 1995. at the age of 50, while going through the menopause.

She said: “It’s been 25 years since she died. I stopped asking why a long time ago, but I have always wondered if there was a connection between her death and menopause. Since her death, my sister and I have been terrified of menopause.”

“We noticed she was not herself. She cried a lot. She worried about everything and anything, she lost her appetite, she had insomnia, she had mood swings.

“She has night sweats, hot flushes. There was no menopause support groups at the time. Ten days before she died, mum went to see her GP who diagnosed her with depression.”

She said her mother was then prescribed anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication and sleeping tablets. Her mother’s death had “shattered all the things” she “took for granted” about herself, her relationships and her entire “world”, she added.

Dr Heather Currie, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), told The Independent: “Menopause can often cause mental health and psychological changes. We know about flushes or sweats but are not prepared for psychological changes.

“The big message is this is often not recognised as being hormonal-related. There is a need for an awareness of the variety of menopausal symptoms that can go on for quite a while.”

Dr Currie, who runs a specialist menopause clinic and is a trustee and former chair of the British Menopause Society, added: “We see a lot of women with mood changes who haven’t got the energy or joy for life as they had before.

“Or they have brain fog and are not thinking clearly or low-level anxiety – finding things they used to cope with easily that now they find more difficult.”

A 2019 poll of almost 3,000 women carried out by Newson Health found 66 per cent had been inappropriately offered or given antidepressants for low mood stemming from their menopause.

“Menopause guidelines are very clear that antidepressants should not be given first line for low mood associated with the menopause because there is no evidence that they will help,” Dr Newson previously told The Independent.

“Many of the women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) who have been incorrectly given antidepressants in the past find that their depressive symptoms improve to the extent that they can reduce and often stop taking their antidepressants.”

Commenting on the latest findings, Shubulade Smith, a consultant psychiatrist with a special interest in menopause and mental health, added: “We know menopause is a vulnerable time for women in terms of their mental health problems – whether they had previous mental health issues or not. The pandemic can compound this situation.”

Symptoms of menopause also include vaginal dryness, night sweats, insomnia, headaches, a reduced sex drive, recurrent urinary tract infections – as well as anxiety, mood changes, feelings of sadness, difficulty concentrating and issues with memory.

Rebecca Lewis, co-director of Newson Health Menopause & Wellbeing Centre, said the symptoms “most difficult to cope with” are the psychological ones.

She added: “It really floors women. Anxiety always increases in most women. From a small degree to such an extent she is housebound and has to give up her work, or is catastrophising and has to have a drink of alcohol to get out of the house.

“It is a product of society – the menopause has been sidelined. It is a normal and natural phenomenon but it is only in recent years we have discovered how varied the symptoms can be due to menopause.

“We see women stopping work, not functioning in society as they used to, not driving anymore, retreating from their friends. Their life becomes much more narrow because they are frightened to go out and do things. It is tragic really.”