Womens Mental Health: the Effect of Reproductive Hormones

Hormones can affect a woman's emotions and moods in different ways throughout her lifetime due to the shifts in the levels of female hormones during the transition of different phases of a woman’s life.

Sometimes the impact on mood can affect a woman's quality of life. This is true for most women. But women with a mental health condition may have other symptoms related to their menstrual cycles or menopause. Although it’s not possible to completely prevent fluctuating or changing levels in reproductive hormones, that doesn’t mean that a woman has to live with uncomfortable, painful or embarrassing symptoms, as there are many effective treatments and therapies to help address these symptoms. We can apply various ways to help the mental and reproductive health of our female patients.

Reproductive hormones like oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone and androgens can greatly impact mental health. Accumulating evidence describes the effects of estrogen and other gonadal hormones on CNS and in particular, on the mental state of the women.