Narrative Clinical Review. This page provides the verified citation, abstract, and full-text PDF for the journal article.

Clinical boundary: Hormone and nonhormone treatments require individualized medical prescribing. Psychotherapy should complement, not obstruct, medical assessment and informed care.

Publication Details

Author: Christian Jonathan Haverkampf
Journal: The Journal of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Communication
Publication date: 2024-06-30
Volume, issue, pages: 13(2), 51–60
Article type: Narrative Clinical Review

Recommended citation: Haverkampf, C. J. (2024). Menopause, Mood, and Relationships: A Psychotherapeutic and Communication-Focused Review. The Journal of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Communication, 13(2), 51–60.

Abstract

The menopausal transition can coincide with vasomotor symptoms, disrupted sleep, cognitive complaints, sexual changes, altered self-understanding, and increased vulnerability to depressive symptoms in some women. It also occurs during a period often crowded by work, caregiving, illness, bereavement, and changes in intimate relationships. Neither a purely hormonal story nor a purely psychological one is adequate. This narrative clinical review considers evidence available through 30 May 2024 and develops a psychotherapeutic and communication-focused approach. Assessment should establish reproductive stage, symptom timing, severity, functional impact, psychiatric history, sleep, physical health, medication, substances, and social context. Transition-associated symptoms must be distinguished from independent mood, anxiety, sleep, trauma-related, bipolar, substance-related, and medical conditions without assuming that one excludes the other. Cognitive-behavioral interventions have evidence for reducing how problematic hot flushes and night sweats feel and for treating insomnia; broader psychosocial and mindfulness findings are promising but heterogeneous. Therapy can also support direct communication with partners, clinicians, and workplaces, including discussion of sexuality and accommodations. Hormone and nonhormone treatments require individualized medical prescribing; psychotherapy should complement rather than obstruct informed medical care. A credible formulation respects biological change, social inequality, personal meaning, and the woman's own priorities while refusing both dismissal and diagnostic overreach.

Keywords

menopause; perimenopause; psychotherapy; depression; sleep; relationships; sexual health

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