Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Menopause
Empower Your Mind: A Powerful Tool for Managing Menopause
What if you had the power to change your experience of menopause, not by changing your hormones, but by changing your thoughts and behaviours? This is the proven power of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It is a practical, skills-based, and highly effective non-hormonal approach that is recommended by national and international menopause guidelines as a first-line treatment for managing menopause symptoms.
CBT is not traditional “talk therapy.” It is an empowering form of brain-training that provides you with a toolkit of practical strategies to manage the mental and physical challenges of the menopause transition. At MyMenopauseSupport.org, I advocate for CBT as a powerful standalone therapy or as a complementary approach alongside medical treatments like HRT, helping you to regain a sense of control over your body and your mind.
CBT Work
How Does CBT Work for Menopause Symptoms?
CBT is based on a simple but profound principle: our thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and actions are all interconnected. By learning to change unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour, we can directly change our emotional and physical experience of a symptom.
Here’s how we apply it to specific menopause challenges:
For Hot Flashes & Night Sweats
Poor sleep often becomes trapped in a cycle of anxious thoughts like “I’ll never get to sleep,” “I’ll be exhausted tomorrow,” or “I can’t function like this.” The more these worries build, the harder it becomes to fall asleep, reinforcing the problem. CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia) is the gold-standard, non-medical treatment for breaking this cycle. It helps you recognize and challenge negative sleep thoughts and replace them with a calmer, more realistic perspective. Alongside this, it introduces proven behavioural strategies—such as adjusting bedtime habits, creating a consistent routine, and managing sleep-related anxiety—that retrain the body and mind to achieve deep, restorative rest.
For Anxiety, Irritability & Low Mood
Menopause can sometimes spark cycles of negative thoughts like “I’m losing my mind,” “I’m not myself anymore,” or “I can’t cope with anything.” These automatic thoughts directly feed anxiety and low mood, creating a downward spiral. With CBT, you learn to notice these patterns, pause to question whether they are really true, and then reframe them into more balanced and realistic perspectives. By doing this consistently, you weaken the grip of negative thinking, reduce anxiety and low mood, and build stronger emotional resilience.
For Sleep Disturbances & Insomnia
A simple blood test can reveal a lot about your internal health and flag issues early. Our Core Wellness Screen includes a full blood count to check for anemia and overall blood health; kidney and liver function tests to confirm these organs are working well; a cholesterol profile to gauge cardiovascular risk, which naturally rises after menopause; thyroid function tests to rule out conditions that can mimic menopausal symptoms; and HbA1c to screen for pre-diabetes or diabetes, a key midlife risk.
What to Expect
What to Expect From CBT for Menopause
CBT is a structured, goal-oriented process. We will work together, often over a series of sessions, to:
Identify
Identify the specific links between your thoughts, feelings, and actions related to your symptoms.
Learn
Learn a range of practical techniques, such as paced breathing, stress reduction strategies, and methods for challenging negative thoughts.
Practice
Practice these new skills so they become your automatic, go-to response for managing challenges.
This is an active therapy where you are empowered with skills that will last a lifetime, long after our sessions have finished.
