Can menopause cause anxiety, and can therapy help?

Many women are surprised when anxiety appears for the first time in their forties or fifties, or when worries they once managed easily start to feel overwhelming. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone.

The hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause can affect mood, sleep, concentration and confidence. Some women describe racing thoughts, waking in the night with a sense of panic, feeling teary or irritable, or no longer feeling like themselves.

Menopause also tends to arrive at a busy time of life. You may be managing a demanding career, teenage or grown-up children, ageing parents, changes in your relationship, or questions about what you want for the next chapter. All of this can add to the pressure.

It is important to speak to your GP about physical symptoms and treatment options. Alongside that, therapy can offer a regular space just for you: to be heard, to make sense of what is happening, and to find ways of coping that work for you. I researched and wrote a dissertation on just this very thing.

Together we might look at the anxiety itself, at sleep and stress, at old patterns such as people-pleasing that can feel harder to carry now, or at the bigger questions of identity and purpose that this stage of life often brings. Many women find it can also be a time of real growth.

I work with women going through perimenopause and menopause on Harley Street in Central London (W1), in South Woodford, East London (E18), and online. If you would like to talk about whether therapy could help, you are very welcome to book a free 15-minute phone consultation.