‘It’s not something that happens to you, and yet it is something that happens to you because you live with it every day’

New research is shining a light on the people who are often overlooked when a woman experiences severe mental health problems and suicide risk during menopause: the family, friends and healthcare professionals trying to support her and keep her safe.

The study was led by Newson Research, in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Researchers interviewed 28 people, including informal carers (family and friends) and 19 healthcare professionals working at Newson Clinic about their experiences of supporting women through suicidal thoughts and behaviours during menopause.

Their stories revealed lives shaped by fear, worry and exhaustion. Family and friends described watching closely for changes in mood or behaviour and constantly trying to spot when their loved one might be at greater risk. They described feeling responsible for keeping loved ones safe while having little guidance about what to do. One spoke of being ‘scared of not being able to find the solution’, while another described simply ‘not knowing what to do.’

Link being missed

Some also felt that the link between hormones and mental health was being missed in public healthcare services. One carer recalled: ‘They just sedated her, and sedated her, more, and more, and more.’ Another said: ‘There was not a single conversation between what was happening medically and mentally.’

Healthcare professionals described seeing women who were already ‘desperate’ for help after struggling to get the right support elsewhere. Even though Newson Clinic is a specialist menopause service, not an emergency mental health service, sometimes staff had to manage serious suicide risk in a setting that was never designed for crisis care.

One healthcare professional summed up the pressure this created: ‘The hardest part is… when do you feel that you can hang up the phone?’

Another healthcare professional called for much closer working between public services: ‘More work needs to be done between psychiatrists, psychologists, and menopause specialists.’

Women navigating system alone

The findings show how gaps between menopause and mental health care can leave women and their families trying to find their own way through the system, while specialist menopause staff take on more responsibility for women in serious distress.

The researchers are calling for menopause and mental health services to work more closely together, with suicide risk and mental health screening, clearer routes to support, better training around suicide risk during menopause, and more help for whole the whole support system – including families and healthcare professionals.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore menopausal suicidality from the perspectives of both informal carers and menopause healthcare professionals.

Read the full paper in the Health Expectations journal here.