Conversations about menopause, the one ‘unmentionable’ condition are hitting the mainstream. Today is World Menopause Day and newspapers around the world are discussing the experience that is universal to all women who reach middle age.
Menopause, rather like puberty, is a transitional phase marked by wildly fluctuating hormones and often strange and disruptive symptoms.
Women commonly report experiencing a number of symptoms including sore swollen breasts, lowered libido, heavy bleeding, hot flushes, night sweats, lowered mood, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Even after menopause is considered technically over (a year after the last period) hot flushes and night sweats are still common, affecting ¾ of post-menopausal women, with 1 in 3 women finding the disruption severely bothersome.
The prescribing of hormone replacement therapy is still considered controversial, despite the studies that guided the NHS’s decisions to not offer it having been debunked.
According to recent research, 50% of menopausal women aren’t going for promotion, or they’re taking early retirement. 20% choose to leave the workforce entirely because they find their symptoms unmanageable. It’s urgently important that women experiencing perimenopause or menopause to consider all options of treatment, so that they can minimise the impact of this time of transition on their work, social and intimate relationships.
Clinical hypnotherapy has been shown to be effective in reducing many of the symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, brain fog, and fatigue. Randomised, controlled trials of clinical hypnosis demonstrated the approach was significantly better than a “structured attention” therapy approach in postmenopausal women with frequent hot flashes and more effective than acupuncture, herbal supplements and yoga.
As conversations about menopause become more commonplace in the workforce, West Midlands Police have brought in a hypnotherapist to work with women who are going through the change. In sessions with a hypnotherapist, a woman with unwanted menopausal symptoms can learn to use simple techniques to manage their reaction to things like hot flushes. During hypnosis sessions you may be asked to imagine stepping into a cool sea or feeling a cool breeze and then coached in self-hypnosis so that you can learn to visualise that same body-cooling sensation when hot flushes strike in everyday life, leading to actual relief of symptoms.
The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) has over 2,000 highly trained and qualified therapists on its register of UK therapists who can assist you in this transition of life. Contact one today and enjoy some relief.
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