How Perimenopause Affects Mental Health in Midlife Women
What happens when a woman whose career depends on confidence and words suddenly loses both? For journalist Shelly Horton, perimenopause didn’t arrive with hot flushes at first. It showed up as anxiety, heart palpitations, crushing self-doubt, and moments of forgetting simple words at work.
In this deeply honest episode, Dr Shauna Watts speaks with Shelly about her journey through perimenopause-related depression, being dismissed by doctors, and the quiet suffering of high-functioning women in midlife. Shelly shares how the right diagnosis, support, and hormone treatment helped her find herself again and why she’s now using her voice to make sure other women don’t feel invisible.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• Understand how perimenopause can present as anxiety and depression
• Recognise why high-functioning women are often missed or dismissed
• Learn how hormonal changes affect confidence, cognition, and mood
• Understand the role of HRT in perimenopausal depression
• Recognise warning signs that shouldn’t be ignored
• Learn why advocacy, for yourself and others, matters
• Understand how shame and silence keep women unwell
This episode is for women who feel dismissed, disconnected, or quietly struggling in the midlife yearss. Shelly’s story sheds light on how hormonal change affects mental health and how proper support can help.
For more resources from Shelly Horton:
Follow her on Instagram or purchase her book ‘I’m Your Peri-Godmother’.
Follow Dr Shauna and the podcast on social:
Podcast Website: www.allaboutyoupod.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allaboutyou_withdrshaunawatts
https://www.instagram.com/drshaunawattsgp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shauna-watts-a903a5247
Disclaimer: This podcast and any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice. Information is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only.
00:00 – When Perimenopause Steals Your Confidence
00:08 – Shelly Horton’s Perimenopause Wake-Up Call
00:53 – Welcome to All About You with Dr Shauna Watts
01:10 – “I Didn’t Recognise Myself”: Losing Confidence in Midlife
02:24 – Early Perimenopause Symptoms Doctors Miss
07:46 – Perimenopause, Anxiety & Depression
10:56 – Getting the Right Diagnosis Changed Everything
14:32 – What Depression Really Feels Like
15:20 – Tracking Symptoms & Withdrawing from Life
16:29 – High-Functioning Depression at Work
17:28 – Why Women Hide Mental Health Struggles
19:24 – Fear, Myths & Starting HRT
20:45 – Dark Thoughts & Breakthrough Depression
23:26 – Finding a Psychiatrist Who Understands Hormones
26:32 – Extreme Heavy Bleeding in Perimenopause
28:37 – A Health Crisis That Forced Change
30:34 – Strength Training & Rebuilding Her Body
31:50 – Body Image, Aging & Self-Trust
35:46 – Going Public with Her Perimenopause Story
40:13 – Vaginal Dryness & Intimate Symptoms
42:17 – Invisibility, Anger & Female Empowerment
48:04 – Writing a Book to Change the Conversation
01:01:38 – A Message for Women Who Feel Lost
* perimenopause depression
* perimenopause mental health
* Shelly Horton menopause
* high functioning depression women
* menopause anxiety and mood
* hormonal depression in midlife
* HRT and mental health
* perimenopause symptoms women
* being dismissed by doctors women
* menopause advocacy Australia
* women’s mental health midlife
* hormone replacement therapy HRT
* menopause stigma
* losing confidence in perimenopause
