Can menopause cause anxiety or low mood?

Many people experience changes in anxiety and mood during menopause. Therapy can help you understand what’s happening, reduce distress, and build steadier coping, alongside appropriate medical support where needed.

What if I don’t recognise myself?

That feeling is common and can be unsettling. Therapy offers a space to make sense of the shift and rebuild stability and self-trust over time.

Can therapy help with menopause-related sleep problems?

Yes. Therapy can help with the sleep–stress cycle and reduce bedtime anxiety and arousal. Where physical factors are contributing, we encourage appropriate medical input alongside therapy.

Can menopause affect relationships and intimacy?

It can. Irritability, exhaustion, confidence changes, and shifts in desire or comfort can all affect connection. Therapy can help you communicate needs and work with relationship patterns more safely.

Will therapy advise on HRT or medical treatment?

Medication decisions are best made with your GP or prescribing clinician. Therapy supports the emotional and psychological impact and works alongside medical care.

Do you offer menopause therapy in London and online?

Yes. We offer therapy in London and online across the UK.

Menopause Therapy

Menopause can be a physical transition, but it’s often an emotional and psychological one too. Many people describe feeling unlike themselves: more anxious, more irritable, flatter in mood, less resilient, or suddenly overwhelmed by stress that used to feel manageable. Sleep can become fragile, confidence can dip, and relationships can feel strained in ways that are hard to explain.

For some, menopause brings grief and identity shifts — changes in body, energy, sexuality, fertility, or sense of self. For others, it brings a sharp increase in anxiety, panic symptoms, or low mood that can feel frightening, especially if you’ve never experienced it before.

At Hampstead Psychology, we offer evidence-based therapy for menopause-related difficulties in London and online across the UK. We help you make sense of what’s happening, reduce distress, and build steadier ways to cope through this transition.

This page is for information and does not replace a clinical assessment, diagnosis, or medical advice.

When menopause starts to take over

You might recognise some of these experiences:

You feel more anxious, edgy, or overwhelmed than you used to.
You feel low, flat, tearful, or emotionally sensitive in ways that don’t feel like “you.”
Sleep disruption leaves you exhausted and less able to cope.
You feel irritable or quick to anger, and it affects relationships.
You feel less confident, more self-critical, or more self-conscious in your body.
You feel mentally foggy, forgetful, or less sharp, and it worries you.
Your stress tolerance has dropped and life feels harder to manage.
Intimacy has changed, and it feels difficult to talk about.
You feel grief or loss about ageing, fertility, identity, or the future.
You’re trying to push through, but you’re running on empty.

If this fits, it doesn’t mean you’re failing. Menopause can place real strain on the nervous system, and psychological support can make a meaningful difference in how you experience and navigate this stage.

How menopause-related difficulties can show up

Anxiety, panic, and heightened threat sensitivity

Hormonal changes can affect the body’s stress system, sleep, and emotional regulation. Many people find they feel more vigilant, more reactive, or more prone to worry. Therapy helps reduce threat loops, support emotional regulation, and restore a sense of steadiness.

Low mood, irritability, and emotional volatility

Mood changes during menopause can feel confusing, especially when they don’t match what’s happening externally. Therapy helps you make sense of mood shifts, reduce self-blame, and build coping strategies that don’t rely on forcing yourself through.

Sleep disruption and exhaustion

Poor sleep amplifies everything. When sleep is disrupted, anxiety rises, mood drops, and emotional resilience falls. Therapy helps you work with the sleep–stress cycle, reduce bedtime arousal, and build routines that support recovery.

Confidence, identity, and body changes

Menopause often happens during a life stage that is already demanding: teenagers, ageing parents, career pressures, relationship strain, or health challenges. Therapy helps you reduce overload, strengthen boundaries, and communicate needs more clearly.

Related difficulties we often see alongside menopause

Menopause-related difficulties often overlap with anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, insomnia, health anxiety, relationship strain, and self-criticism. Some people also notice increased sensitivity to bodily sensations, which can heighten worry.

Therapy takes the whole picture into account while staying focused on what will help most.

Medical input alongside therapy

Menopause has physical and hormonal components, and medical support can be important. Therapy supports the emotional and psychological impact, and where physical factors are contributing, we recommend appropriate medical input through your GP or treating clinician alongside therapy.

What keeps menopause-related distress going

Menopause-related distress is often maintained by understandable loops.

Sleep disruption and stress increase emotional reactivity and reduce resilience.

Worry about symptoms, ageing, or “what’s happening to me” increases threat and self-monitoring.

You push through and over-function, then crash, then feel more overwhelmed.

Self-criticism rises, which adds pressure and reduces recovery further.

Therapy helps you step out of these loops by supporting nervous system regulation, improving coping and pacing, reducing self-attack, and building a more sustainable relationship with this life stage.

How therapy for menopause helps

At Hampstead Psychology, we use approaches that are widely used in evidence-based psychological practice. Depending on your needs, this may include CBT, ACT, compassion-focused work, and schema-informed therapy.

In practice, therapy often involves making sense of what is happening for you, reducing anxiety and mood cycles, strengthening boundaries and recovery, and working with identity shifts and self-worth. We help you respond to symptoms and emotional changes with more steadiness and less fear, and we support you to rebuild a sense of confidence and choice.

The aim isn’t to pretend menopause is easy. The aim is to help you move through it with more clarity, self-respect, and emotional stability.

What to expect from sessions

We begin by understanding your experience in context: symptoms, mood, sleep, stress load, relationships, work demands, and how menopause has been affecting your sense of self. We develop a shared map and agree what you want therapy to change.

Sessions are collaborative and paced. You’ll leave with insight that feels usable and practical steps to try between sessions, reviewed and refined over time. We keep the work grounded, because often it’s the combination of small changes that reduces overall load.

How long does therapy take?

This varies. Some people want focused support around anxiety, sleep, confidence, or a particular relationship pressure during menopause. Others benefit from longer-term work, particularly when menopause has activated deeper themes around identity, self-worth, or longstanding patterns of over-responsibility.

We review progress together so therapy stays purposeful and aligned with your goals.

Menopause therapy in Hampstead and online

We offer menopause-related therapy in person in London and online across the UK. Many people choose online sessions for convenience and privacy, and it can work extremely well when you have a quiet space to focus.

Take the next step

If menopause has been affecting your mood, sleep, confidence, or relationships, you don’t have to carry it alone. With the right support, it’s possible to feel steadier again and move through this stage with more clarity and self-respect.

Contact Hampstead Psychology to enquire about menopause therapy in London or online.

Useful links: Insomnia and Sleep Problems, Anxiety Therapy, Depression Therapy, Stress and Burnout, Psychosexual Therapy, Couples Counselling, Fees, Meet the Team, Contact.

Urgent Help

If you are worried about immediate risk to your safety, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent support but it isn’t an emergency, contact NHS 111 or your GP. You can also contact Samaritans on 116 123 (24/7).

Meet The Team

At Hampstead Psychology, all of our psychologists have extensive training to doctoral level and decades of experience in their field of expertise. You will be matched with a psychologist that has the knowledge and skill to help you understand and overcome your problem - not just in the short term but for good.