As a society, we don’t talk about menopause enough. Perhaps it’s because it’s related to sex hormones, maybe because it relates to aging, or an old taboo carried forward from older generations, some people feel awkward talking about it. This is a problem that contributes to a huge lack of information on what happens during menopause if someone has a trauma history.
Why this is important?
To put it simply, half the world’s population is female. If they live long enough, they will experience menopause. That is approximately 2 million women have recently lived through menopause.
Women and Trauma
1 in 3 women will have experienced abuse by the age of 15 and women are more likely to develop PTSD from their trauma compared to men. If half the world’s population will go through menopause and a third of those women have trauma, we are now talking about a significant amount of people.
Effects on menopause symptoms
OK, so why make such a big deal about menopause and trauma? Research has shown that women who have a history of trauma at any point during their life, are more likely to experience worsened menopause symptoms. And not just an increase in depression and anxiety, it relates to all symptoms, notably night sweats and hot flushes. Furthermore, if you have a diagnosis of PTSD, research indicates that menopause will increase those symptoms too.
How are these connected?
The general understanding from research is that the fluctuation of estrogen through a women’s reproductive years is associated with the fear response, which is overactive in PTSD. We also know that estrogen has a role in increased incidents of depression in women. During menopause, a women’s estrogen levels become erratic, which explains why there is more mental health symptoms. How this is connected to physiological symptoms like night sweats, we don’t know yet.
I don’t need to tell you that menopause can be a very hard time in a women’s life and the lack of discussion and research on it just makes it harder. The most important takeaway I want to give you is if you are part of this cohort of women, you are not alone and no, you’re not crazy, your symptoms may well be worse than the average woman’s experience.
If this is a topic that is relevant to you and you want to talk about it with someone who is trauma-informed, please feel free to contact me or make a booking. I’d love to hear from you. I offer in person counselling services from my offices in Edithvale and Somerville as well as Australia wide online.
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