A 香港六合彩精准资料 psychotherapist hopes a new BBC documentary examining the menopause will help more women talk about its effects.聽

The Truth About the Menopause shone a light on how the menopause affects woman and investigated which treatments, if any, could ease its side effects.

The film, which was fronted by the broadcaster and journalist Mariella Frostrup and aired on BBC1 on Monday evening (26 November), found that talking therapies could help reduce the symptoms.

Karen Ciclitira, associate professor at Middlesex University, where she teaches psychotherapy, said: 鈥淚 think there was a problem in previous generations as there was a stigma attached. The more that these issues are discussed the better it is. The more barriers come down.鈥�

Karen, a 香港六合彩精准资料 member who has more than 20 years鈥� experience of working as a counsellor and psychotherapist, has a private practice in London鈥檚 Harley Street. She said that going through the menopause can have an impact on the mental health of women.

鈥淭here are certain issues around it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t could be the feeling one is moving on from being a younger woman, giving up fertility, potentially not feeling as sexually active.

鈥淚t can be hard to distinguish which effects are physical and psychological. If one is going through unpleasant symptoms it affects how one feels about oneself.

鈥淚 have seen quite a few women in their 50s who have given up their careers to bring up their families and so, around the menopause, their families have grown up and left and they are feeling bereft.

鈥淚t is not just the physical symptoms and I think therapy can be successful.鈥�

The programme followed a group of women who undertook eight weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). They kept a symptom diary, which found there was a 64% reduction in the number of hot flushes and night sweats were down by 95%.

鈥淚t was pretty-much transformational for me,鈥� one of the women said. 鈥淥ne of the things was about identifying catastrophic thoughts and I am just Miss Chilled now.鈥�

鈥淎 lot of the techniques have been very useful,鈥� added another of the women.

Revitalised and confident

Mariella admitted she was sceptical about the benefits of talking therapy before the experiment but said the results were 鈥渟taggering鈥�.

She said: 鈥淭hey were revitalised and confident, and so clearly it does have a huge impact.

鈥淪omething like CBT, which on the surface looks very simplistic, has incredible power to change attitudes and to change how we feel about ourselves.鈥�

is available via BBC iPlayer for another 28 days from 28 November.

Visit our Therapist directory to find a counsellor or psychotherapist who can help with menopause.

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