104 – What the research shows about menopause and suicide risk
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What sparked the research into menopause and suicide risk?
So on the podcast, I've got two people who I've got to know really well. And I'm very excited about this episode because it's an area that's incredibly important, that resonates with a lot of people. It might not be the most cheeriest of episodes, but it's one that's really important. So I've got Pooja and Liv with me, who... I feel like I met Pooja about three or four years ago it feels like and I handed her one evening I emailed her because she'd written an amazing article in their British Medical Journal and the rest is history as they say. So Pooja do you want to go first and introduce yourself?
Yeah I think I've spoken about office meeting to so many people Louise but It was a great conversation I think we had when I got that email from you thinking about women in midlife and then potentially being in menopause, transitions and suicidal. It was just like a light bulb moment for all of the evidence I had seen nationally over a 10-year period where women in midlife were at high risk of dying by suicide. So yeah, I think for me it was just where two kind of worlds collided. and a really important area that we needed to look into. So tell me your background. So you're a professor. I am. I'm a professor of suicide and self-harm prevention at Liverpool John Moores University. I've been researching in the field now for 20 years and the focus was always on primary care and looking at people who talk about feeling suicidal in the community and what can be done to help them.
And I'd say, unfortunately, there hasn't necessarily been that much progression actually in what is offered in the community. So it wasn't female specific. And actually following that, there was a lot of work that I was involved in implementing for men, for community-based centres for men with three quarters of people dying being male. But I think recently there's been a lot more focus on women as well, especially those going through kind of perinatal or around giving birth and maternity and even more recently now in
menopause. Absolutely. And the article that I read was about men and that's why I emailed you to say, hang on. But you listened, which is great, which is so brilliant when people listen and are inquisitive. And then you introduced me to Liv. So Liv, do you want to introduce
yourself? Yes, of course. So I am... freshly out of the NHS I used to work clinically as a psychologist in primary and secondary mental health services and then I saw a research physician open at John Moores which I applied for and Pooja was interviewing me and And she said, you haven't got this one, but we do have a PhD going if you'd like to do that instead. It's with Dr. Louise Newson and it's on menopause and suicide risk. And because of my background, my clinical background working in secondary care mental health services, I dealt with a lot of risk. management. And I also did have a hormonal background as well in terms of academia. In my undergraduate degree, a master's degree, I looked at gender dysphoria and the effect of sex hormones in terms of that.
So I had a good foundational knowledge of hormones. And then with my clinical experience, it just kind of felt like a natural progression to move into that arena. And yeah, and then... You've just finished your PhD. I have. I've just finished, I was about to say.
How did Dr Pooja Saini’s clinical background lead to the PhD project?
A few months ago, maybe six months ago, I submitted it. And yeah, I have it now in my grasp.
Which is fantastic. So you are a doctor, but not a medical doctor at first. I always think people with a PhD are sometimes more clever than medical doctors. And it's a lot of work. A lot of work. I've read your thesis and it took me a long time to read, but it took you a hell of a long
time to write.
Yeah,
absolutely. And I think that thesis actually, you know, we had that initial idea, didn't we, Louisa? What can we do? And what can we do within PhDs? reasonable budget as well
yes
um and then louise live obviously came for that interview where she really impressed me um so it all kind of just worked out really well but i think so many more questions have come out of that research um yeah you know which
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What sparked the research into menopause and suicide risk?
0:02–3:51
2
How did Dr Pooja Saini’s clinical background lead to the PhD project?
3:51–7:12
3
What did the early patient stories reveal about hormones and mental health?
7:12–11:05
4
How did hormone‑replacement therapy change suicidal thoughts in the study?
11:05–14:48
5
Which hormone combinations were most effective for mental‑health outcomes?
14:48–20:14
6
Why are menopausal women at higher risk of suicide compared to the general population?
20:14–24:26
7
What barriers exist in clinical practice for recognizing hormonal impacts on suicide risk?
24:26–28:23
8
What actionable steps did the experts recommend for clinicians and workplaces?
28:23–31:28
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Dr Louise Newson Podcast
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102 – GLP-1s, hormones & the truth about weight gain with Rose Stokes
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100 – Sepsis, UTIs & quadruple amputation: Kim’s story
99 – Gut health, hormones & food noise with Dominique Ludwig
98 – Why the type of hormone matters for health and fitness - Davey Maher