After surgery thrust her into menopause at age 40, Stephanie Scott of Hamilton, Ontario, said she had “zero sex drive.” Hormone treatments helped with hot flashes and insomnia, but they didn’t increase her desire for sex.
By Rachel Zimmerman
“The focus was on reshaping your thoughts about your own body, your own needs and desires and desirability,” said Scott, now 49, who entered early menopause after having a hysterectomy and one ovary removed. She said the therapy helped her “understand the emotional and psychological changes going on during menopause.”
The results of the research, being presented Tuesday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Menopause Society, suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy — a specific form of talk therapy — can significantly improve sexual dysfunction problems related to perimenopause and menopause. Earlier research has shown CBT to be effective for hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause.
Sexual concerns due to decreased estrogen levels and other factors are reported by between 68 and 86 percent of women going through perimenopause and postmenopause, doctors and women’s health researchers say. These declines in function — from a lower libido to trouble achieving orgasm or pain during sex — can undermine self-esteem and overall physical and emotional well-being, women report. But despite these negative impacts, treatment options (and, in particular, non-drug ones) are limited.
The new research included 30 women who took part in a treatment known as cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. The participants completed four, 90-minute CBT sessions specifically tailored to address sexual function.
CBT is a form of talk therapy that encourages patients to identify and reframe negative thoughts and patterns, working to replace those with healthier alternative narratives. After undergoing the CBT sessions with a clinical psychologist, participants reported significant decreases in sexual concerns, researchers found, as well as improvements in body image and partner satisfaction, said Sheryl Green, the study’s lead author and a professor at McMaster University in Ontario.
How CBT can improve your sex life
One key goal of any type of CBT is to address deeply held distortions in thinking and, through discussion, exercises and practice, shift those negative beliefs toward more accurate and helpful ways of thinking.
