Drops in estrogen levels affect brain, body and behavior: reported relationship between attitudes and menopausal...

Bloch found that women who had more menopausal symptoms had a more negative view of menopause than women who had fewer symptoms. Bloch's conclusion that a negative view of menopause will lead to more symptoms implies a cause and effect assumption that is not warranted and is also counter-intuitive. Current research on the neural effects of estrogen suggest that the observed relationship is more likely to be due to the fact that some women experience negative symptoms during menopause as a result of diminished levels of estrogen. This, in turn leads these same women to adopt a more negative view of menopause, at least compared with women who have relatively less severe symptoms.