My Take on the Future of Women’s Healthcare

Women are often told their hormones are to blame — for their moods, their tears, their “overreactions.”

But the truth is more nuanced.

It’s not that an elevated estrogen level is the absolute cause of your depression or anxiety. But the variability of your hormones can amplify what’s already there — turning up the volume on emotions, sensitivities, and symptoms that might otherwise stay quieter.

The Invisible Push and Pull

Throughout a woman’s life — from puberty to postpartum to perimenopause — hormones are constantly shifting.

Sometimes, those changes bring out our strength, creativity, and connection.

Other times, they stir anxiety, sadness, or fog.

Research shows this isn’t in our heads.

For example, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that during perimenopause, fluctuating estrogen levels (not just low levels, but the up and down swings) were linked to more mood symptoms and irritability.¹

In other words, it’s not that your hormones are “broken” — it’s that your body is moving through real changes that can exacerbate mental health concerns like depression and anxiety.

The same pattern shows up in other seasons, too: fertility treatments, postpartum recovery, even adolescence.

Hormone shifts don’t define us, but they can shape how we experience our mental health.

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Why This Matters for Care

Right now, mental health and reproductive health live in separate offices — often with separate languages and separate stories.

You might talk about your period or fertility in one place, and your anxiety or mood in another.

But your body doesn’t separate them.

Your body feels it all at once.

Imagine if OB/GYN visits included a few simple questions about mood and sleep.

If postpartum checkups didn’t stop at six weeks, but checked in on both your hormones and your heart.

If fertility care included mental-health support as part of the plan, not an optional extra.

This is what the future of women’s health could look like: truly integrated care, where hormonal and emotional well-being are seen as one connected story, from puberty to menopause.

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The Vision of Maybe Motherhood

At maybe motherhood, we believe understanding your hormones isn’t about labeling emotions as “hormonal.”

It’s about giving them context — and compassion.

When we connect the dots between our biology and our inner world, we stop blaming ourselves and start taking care of ourselves more holistically.

Hormones may not be the whole story.

But they’re part of the story — and they deserve to be heard.

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Reference

Joffe, H., de Wit, A., Coborn, J., Crawford, S., Freeman, M., Wiley, A., Athappilly, G., Kim, S., Sullivan, K. A., Cohen, L. S., & Hall, J. E. (2020). Impact of Estradiol Variability and Progesterone on Mood in Perimenopausal Women With Depressive Symptoms. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 105(3), e642–e650. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgz181