‘We have a day’

In a women’s forum, someone posted, “We have a day! Who knew?” and I chuckled incessantly at the poster’s consternation, made evident by the exclamation marks and the selected emojis.

The response was even more amusing, as another woman posted, “And we didn’t celebrate, wais dat?!”

As women, there are quite a few advocacy days we may claim as ours, but this was October 19 and, one day before (October 18 annually), the world had observed World Menopause Day (WMD) under the theme “Chronic Pain at Midlife.”

According to International Menopause Society president Prof Rossella Nappi, “Women’s pain has too often been dismissed through gendered stereotypes and labelled ‘emotional’ rather than properly investigated and treated.”

“Chronic pain at midlife,” Nappi said, “should be recognised as a key component of menopause care, requiring gender-sensitive, individualised, and multidisciplinary approaches, alongside further research to address gaps in knowledge and care” (imsociety.org).”

I started ruminating about a celebration. What would we do for fun? Tell stories, hopefully, in an air-conditioned space and trust that everyone would keep a balanced mood without spontaneous tears or angst?

I quickly adjusted my amusement in a compassion self-check though, because, on a deeper level, I have serious concerns for the well-being of women over the entire life course, not just at the end of the reproductive cycle.

Menarche, the first menstrual cycle or period at the other/earlier end of a woman’s reproductive cycle, and the inherent mental health and overall health issues that are also overlooked and which may persist for decades, is another level of investigation and advocacy in which I have an active interest.

I returned to the UK-funded global mixed research on menopause I had completed some years ago, on Black women in the UK and the diaspora, and how eye-opening it was to see the list of symptoms and read the comments from respondents.

And only recently, in that women’s forum, we had the good fortune of an evening with menopause advocate and educator, Dr Nadya Watson, speaking to us about navigating perimenopause, menopause and post menopause.

It was such an eye-opener for me, despite all I thought I knew, as the doctor schooled us about our body functioning (or malfunctioning), appropriate self-care and professional interventions to be considered in this delicate period in our lives.

WMD always brings me to the often-neglected mental distress that underlies this period. Menopause, as a serious and significant life transition, affects both body and mind, with a biased focus on body issues.

In my instance, it was more mind than body but, because I had been so conditioned to the bodily changes, I remember saying that the period gifted me egg sensitivity, with a serious reaction akin to anaphylactic shock from eating a food I grew up loving.

One day though, a counsellor recounted with me the onset of crippling anxiety, and there it was. The real issue for me was hidden behind the learning and promotion of all the physical health symptoms and anomalies that women experience at the end of the child-bearing years.

But the hormonal changes in menopause may lead to several mental health issues and disorders. Mood swings, anxiety, (clinical) depression and cognitive challenges such as brain fog (I see that in my bag, too), are uppermost on the list, says the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/).

“Menopause has been linked to increased vulnerability to psychotic symptoms, particularly in women with preexisting vulnerabilities such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia,” say researchers Garg and Munshi (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 2025).

They refer to it as a “transformative phase marked by hormonal shifts that can precipitate or exacerbate mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, and, in severe cases, suicidal ideation.”

Researchers say that these significant impacts on women’s mental health affect roughly 30 per cent to 70 per cent of women.

A 2024 BBC article reporting on Cardiff University research says that “women are more than twice as likely to develop bipolar disorder in the years leading up to their final period” (bbc.com/news/articles/c0k4x433xjdo).

In 2026, The Guardian reported on the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) research, which said that a poll found that “only 28 per cent of women know a new mental illness can be associated with menopause.

In contrast, they reported that “93 per cent of women associate menopause with hot flushes and 76 per cent with reduced sex drive (theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/01/).

The RCPsych, in a position statement (March 2026), wrote, “Drawing on lived experience, clinical evidence and an intersectional approach… menopause can significantly impact mental health and well-being, and is associated with anxiety, depression, cognitive changes and, sometimes, triggering or worsening serious mental illness.”

In that statement, the society also advocated for “the relationship between menopause and mental health to be fully integrated into the development and implementation of national women’s health strategies.”

Globally, women account for approximately 51 per cent of the population, and every woman living a full life will experience menopause. This makes the issue a global and societal one that should have a louder voice, especially on the psychological impact.

Reference: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/improving-care/campaigning-for-better-mental-health-policy/position-statements/2026-position-statements/menopause-and-mental-health-(ps02-26)