Sex hormones and mental health across the life course: insights for women and men

Date: Tuesday 16 June
Time: 11.55am - 1.10pm

Overview

The impact of sex hormones on mental health is an exciting and rapidly developing area of clinical practice and research, with potential for translation using existing hormonal treatments. Hormonal changes influence risk and presentation of mood and psychotic disorders among many other conditions, yet psychiatrists often report limited training and confidence in addressing hormonal aspects of care. This panel will provide a clinical update on hormonal psychiatry, informed by the latest research.

In the first talk, Kate Womersley will outline how to recognise, prescribe and refer appropriately for conditions such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), perimenopausal mental health presentations, and progestogen-related dysphoria. These common but underdiagnosed conditions offer psychiatrists opportunities to improve care and outcomes for women.

Lived experience will be central to the second talk by Nasara Al-Hassan, a qualitative researcher who has PMDD and has explored the experiences of women with this condition. She will reflect on advocacy and highlight the importance of patient and public involvement (PPI) in psychiatry research and health policy through her work with NIHR.

Drawing parallels with men’s health, Channa Jayasena will examine hypogonadism (low testosterone) and how testosterone influences behaviour, mood and sexual function through direct and oestradiol-mediated pathways. As testosterone levels decline by about 1% annually from age 40 (accelerated by conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity) understanding these mechanisms is key for managing associated mental health effects.

Finally, Bodyl Brand will discuss psychosis risk during the perimenopause, when fluctuating oestrogen levels affect symptom severity, treatment response and side-effect burden. Attendees will learn to optimise management through antipsychotic dose adjustments, awareness of physical health risks and the use of adjunctive oestrogen-based therapies.

By integrating clinical expertise, lived experience and new science, this panel will equip our audience to better support men’s and women’s mental health across the life course.

In this session you will explore:

• Enhance clinical awareness of hormone-linked disorders: provide psychiatrists with practical guidance on diagnosing and managing PMDD, premenstrual exacerbations of mental health symptoms, perimenopausal mood and psychotic symptoms, progestogen-related mental health issues and hypogonadism in men
• Apply sex hormone research to psychiatric practice: translate new findings on oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone into clinically relevant takeaways, including their effects on neurotransmission, mood regulation and psychosis risk
• Improve diagnosis and treatment: develop psychiatrists’ skills in distinguishing hormone-related psychiatric symptoms from primary psychiatric disorders, and knowing when and how to initiate, adjust and refer for hormonal treatments
• Integrate life course and sex-specific perspectives in care: strengthen attendees’ ability to recognise how hormonal transitions across patients’ lives affect vulnerability and treatment response in both women and men

Speakers

• Chair: Dr Katie Marwick, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
• Mental health and the menstrual life course: diagnosis, management and hormonal treatment from menarche to menopause
  • Dr Kate Womersley, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
• Researching from within: using lived experience to explore PMDD
  • Miss Nasara Al-Hassan, National Institute of Health and Care Research, London
• Psychiatric dimensions of hypogonadism: research and clinical insights for midlife and older men
  • Professor Channa Jayasena, Imperial College London, London
• Menopause and psychosis: towards hormone-informed treatment
  • Dr Bodyl A. Brand, University of Oxford, Oxford

Please email congress@rcpsych.ac.uk or call 020 8618 4120 with any enquiries.