We're privileged to feature Professor Jayashri Kulkarni AM on this episode - a woman who is globally renowned as a leader and expert in the field of women's mental health. She's also a passionate advocate for midlife women.
Among her many accolades and achievements, Professor Kulkarni is the director and founder of HER Centre Australia @ Monash University, which is dedicated to understanding and treating mental illnesses experienced by women. Indeed, Professor Kulkarni has conducted world-first research into the link between our reproductive hormones and mental health.
A Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists since 1989, she was awarded a PhD from Monash University in 1997 for her thesis “Women and Psychosis”. A major area of her research involves psychoneuroendocrine studies of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in women with severe mental illnesses. In particular, she has pioneered the use of estrogen as a new treatment in schizophrenia.
Professor Kulkarni received an Order of Australia (AM) in 2019 for her services to Medicine. In 2024, she received two prestigious awards from The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP): the Ian Simpson Award for “the most outstanding contributions to clinical psychiatry through service to patients and the community” and the RANZCP Senior Research Award, for “the most significant contribution to psychiatric research in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand over the preceding five years”.
As you can imagine Professor Kulkarni is a very busy woman and her knowledge and wisdom is sought after so we hope you (and your GP) gain a lot from this episode.
In this episode, we talk about:
About Professor Kulkarni(1:03)
The link between reproductive hormones and mental health (4:44)
Questionnaire about depression in menopause (5:19)
Menopause depression is different - what are the signs? (5:29)
The statistics - this is a significant time of mental health change for many women. (7:25)
Let's not forget the men because this is everyone's business (9:30)
Menopausal mood disorder and the brain (10:45)
Beware of misdiagnosis (12:20)
The link between hormones, the brain and menopause (14:47)
We need to re-look at the way society looks at menopause (16:22)
Don't stigmatise women who struggle (18:57)
Know your numbers ladies (20:37)
Taking the holistic approach to menopause (21:19)
Make your needs known loudly and assertively (24;15)
Blood tests can't show what's happening in the brain (24:43)
Women are very good at knowing what is going on in their bodies (25:20)
Message for GPs and women who are aged around 40 (26:08)
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Episode Resources:
Get MENO-D: a rating scale to detect menopause in depression here https://www.maprc.org.au/sites/www.maprc.org.au/files/MENO-D_0.pdf
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