The Hormonal Mental Health Gap: Why Women Feel Everything More Deeply

And why it’s not in your head — it’s in your neurobiology.

If you have ever wondered why women feel, sense, and carry the world more intensely than men, let me reassure you:

it’s not your personality — it’s your physiology.

And no, this isn’t the classical, sexist “women are emotional” narrative.

This is the scientific one — the one that explains why so many women:

• develop anxiety during puberty

• feel “unravelled” before their period

• experience sensory overload after childbirth

• see ADHD symptoms explode in perimenopause

• experience depression in their late 40s

• become completely different humans post-menopause

As I wrote in “From Queen to a Puddle of Tears”, estrogen isn’t just a reproductive hormone — it’s a neuromodulator. It influences serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and GABA — the four messengers that determine how safe, connected, calm, and cognitively sharp you feel.

When estrogen fluctuates?

Everything fluctuates.

When progesterone drops?

Your internal brake system disappears.

When both crash (hello luteal phase)?

Your brain temporarily becomes… more dramatic than a Spanish telenovela.

Why Women Struggle More with Anxiety, Depression, and Neurodivergent Traits

Globally, women are:

• 2× more likely to experience anxiety (WHO, 2021)

• 2× more likely to develop depression

• 3–4× more likely to experience autoimmune-related neuroinflammation

• more likely to be misdiagnosed as “emotional,” “stressed,” or “burnt out” instead of neurodivergent

And here is the irony:

Women are not more fragile.

Women simply have more moving hormonal parts.

Our brain chemistry shifts:

• every month (menstrual cycle)

• every pregnancy

• every postpartum period

• every perimenopausal year

• every major life stressor

• every time iron, protein, or thyroid levels drop

Compare that to men, whose hormonal profile looks like a flat line on a graph.

Of course we feel things differently.

A Client Story (shared with permission)

This week’s testimony could not be more timely. It captures exactly what millions of women experience silently — especially neurodivergent women:

“Perimenopause intensified my ADHD and nothing I tried (and I did try quite a number of things) seemed to be of any help. Before my first appointment with Talia, I had promised myself that if the treatment still didn’t change any of my symptoms, I would ask my general practitioner for a brain scan as something felt so wrong. On bad period days, finishing a sentence correctly and finding my words felt like an impossible challenge. Thanks to Talia and her magic needles as well as the different supplements, I no longer fear a brain tumor. I can think clearly and my energy and moods are stabilized. Being able to talk to someone who understood what I was experiencing and who had the right tools to help has been such a relief.”

Her story is even more powerful considering that her closest friend recently died by suicide — a tragedy tragically mirrored in many neurodivergent women, especially when hormonal storms hit.

This is why female-specific care matters.

This is why correct diagnosis matters.

This is why we must talk about hormones + mental health together.

PMS/PMDD: The Monthly Mental-Health Crash No One Talks About

Up to 75% of women experience PMS.

Between 3–8% experience PMDD — a condition so intense it can trigger:

• depressive episodes

• intrusive thoughts

• rage

• suicidal ideation

PMDD is not “severe PMS.”

It’s a neurohormonal disorder.

Your PMS & PMDD Guide explains this beautifully with your “phase glitch” model — the perfect visual explanation for why the luteal phase becomes a mental health trap:

• estrogen drops too fast

• progesterone can’t stabilize the brain

• prostaglandins trigger inflammation

• serotonin decreases

• the brain becomes hypersensitive to stress

Women with PCOS, endometriosis or adenomyosis (as I explained in “How PMS Feels Different…”) can experience even more intense symptoms because of inflammation, insulin resistance or estrogen dominance.

The Neurodivergence–Hormone Link

Recent research suggests:

• ADHD symptoms worsen when estrogen drops

• autistic women mask more effectively until perimenopause

• sensory processing issues intensify during luteal phase

• dopamine dysregulation is hormonally sensitive

This explains why perimenopause often becomes the moment when women finally say:

“I can’t function like this anymore.”

It’s not a breakdown.

It’s a revealing.

Your brain is no longer able — or willing — to compensate.