Study finds talk therapy may help women during menopause | Menopause

Research suggests that talk therapy may help improve the quality of life and reduce symptoms such as depression and anxiety in women going through menopause.

Menopause marks the end of a woman's menstrual period And it involves a transition that can last several years.

This is accompanied by many symptoms due to hormonal changes, such as hot flashes, night sweats, memory problems, and psychological problems such as depression and anxiety.

Researchers now say conversational therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) may be helpful.

Study author Professor Amy Spector from University College London (UCL) said there was a clear link between the physical and psychological symptoms of menopause, citing hot flashes as one example. .

“When people have hot flashes, they tend to be very anxious about having a hot flash, and that anxiety often causes more hot flashes,” she says.

Spector said treatments such as CBT can help women counter negative thoughts they may have about such symptoms, such as fear of what others will think of them. Stated.

Specter et al., writing in the Journal of Affective Disorders, draw from 22 strong studies examining the effects of CBT, MBI, and other interventions such as marital support on the psychiatric symptoms of menopause. We explained how we pooled the data.

When considered together, such treatments were found to have moderate to large effects on quality of life and small but positive effects on anxiety and depression.

It was also associated with small improvements in memory and concentration, but these results came from just three studies, so it's unclear whether the results are robust.

More specifically, CBT had small effects on depression and anxiety, while MBI had small effects on the former but moderate to large effects on the latter. The researchers cautioned that this finding may be related to the longer duration of the MBI intervention than CBT.

A further eight studies did not have enough data to be included in the analysis and included different treatments, but provided additional support for the results.

But it's unclear how long the effects last, when during menopause such treatments are most effective, and whether they're more effective for some women than others. .

Additionally, the study could not determine how much meaningful mood improvement women would derive from such therapy.

Spector will explore further research, including how best to implement these treatments and whether CBT can help women live with or manage the cognitive problems associated with menopause, such as brain fog. He said research is needed.

It is increasingly possible that talking therapies such as CBT can be used to address symptoms associated with menopause. considerable controversy Draft guidelines from the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (Nice) to general practitioners offer CBT “in parallel with or as an alternative to” hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat symptoms including night sweats. It's been several months since I suggested it might be possible.

However, the team behind the new study stressed that their work does not undermine the importance of HRT, but offers an alternative approach that may also offer benefits.

“I don't think we would ever say that dealing with hormonal imbalances isn't probably the most important thing for a lot of people,” Spector said.

Dr Paula Briggs, UK Conference Chair menopause Society states that HRT does not always completely resolve symptoms associated with menopause, and that women may also face other difficulties during menopause, including lifestyle-related issues.

“Anything that helps women at this time in their lives is helpful,” she said.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPs, said that although HRT was proven to be safe and effective, it was not suitable for everyone.

“Research exploring alternative treatments that may improve the experience of women going through menopause is therefore encouraging and welcome,” she said. “Therefore, it is important that the results of this study be incorporated when clinical guidelines are updated.”