Not just hot flushes: how menopause can destroy mental health

Women are increasingly discussing the forgetfulness, anxiety and suicidal thoughts they have experienced as their hormones change in midlife. Why is more help not available?

At her lowest point, Karen Arthur came within a hair's breadth of killing herself. Having been signed off from her teaching job with anxiety, which she had not then connected with going through the menopause, the 51-year-old had booked a few days away from home to try to clear her head. A long walk in the country brought her to a spot notorious for suicide attempts.

At that stage, she says, she had not considered how she might kill herself, but she had put her affairs in order for her two daughters, who were away at university. I did think it would be easier if I wasn't here. The kids would get the house, the mortgage paid off."