Larisa King, MSN, PMHNP-BCPsychiatric Nurse Practitioner Women are beautifully complex. Throughout our lives, our bodies move through a series of hormonal transitions that influence how we feel, think, rest, and function. Yet many women are never taught how deeply these shifts affect emotional wellbeing. For Women’s Health Week, I want to shine a light on what’s happening beneath the surface. Because if you’ve ever wondered, “Why do I feel this way?” the answer is often that your hormones are speaking—and you deserve to understand their language. Puberty marks the first major shift. It’s not just physical development; it’s a neurological remodel. As estrogen and progesterone rise, many girls experience mood swings, increased sensitivity, emotional reactivity, and changes in sleep. This is also when anxiety or depression may first appear—not as a sign of weakness or personal failure, but as the natural result of a brain undergoing rapid growth while hormones surge and settle. Offering young girls empathy, open conversations, and supportive community creates a foundation of emotional safety that stays with them into adulthood. Pregnancy brings another profound transition. Hormone levels rise higher than at any other time in life, which can create emotional sensitivity, increased worry, vivid dreams, and shifts in focus. For some women, pregnancy feels grounding; for others, it’s overwhelming or destabilizing. Both experiences are valid. Pregnancy affects every woman differently, and the most important thing is feeling supported, informed, and free to talk about what you’re experiencing—without fear of judgment. The postpartum period is one of the most intense hormonal transitions a woman can face. Immediately after birth, estrogen and progesterone drop rapidly, while a mother is also adjusting to profound physical recovery, feeding demands, identity changes, and—perhaps most difficult of all—sleep deprivation. Many mothers experience tearfulness, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or brain fog. While “baby blues” usually pass within a couple of weeks, ongoing distress may signal postpartum depression, anxiety, or OCD—very real, very treatable conditions that deserve compassion and support, not silence or shame. Perimenopause, the years leading up to menopause, can feel like puberty in reverse. Hormones don’t simply decline; they fluctuate widely before settling, and those fluctuations can trigger anxiety, irritability, sudden mood shifts, sleep problems, emotional overwhelm, and cognitive fog that leaves many women saying, “I don’t feel like myself.” These experiences are real and often under-recognized. Women deserve validation, information, and supportive care during this season rather than being told it’s “just stress” or something to simply push through. Menopause itself marks twelve months without a menstrual cycle and a shift into a new hormonal baseline. Some women feel a sense of calm and clarity as moods stabilize. Others experience emotional changes, anxiety, sleep disruptions, shifts in libido, or a sense of loss. Like every stage of womanhood, menopause is not an ending but an evolution-- one that can bring renewed purpose when women feel informed and supported.  One of the most beautiful truths about these transitions is that women were never meant to move through them alone. Historically, women gathered, shared stories, and supported one another through every season of life. Today, in a world that asks so much of us, these circles of connection are more important than ever. When women share their experiences, something powerful happens: we feel seen rather than misunderstood, validated rather than dismissed, and connected rather than isolated. We recognize that our emotional experiences are human, not flaws. We rediscover strength we didn’t realize we had. Community creates healing; hormones may influence how we feel, but sisterhood influences how we heal. As we talk openly about these hormonal shifts, it’s also important to acknowledge that for some women, emotional symptoms interfere with daily life in ways that deserve additional support. Psychiatric medication management can be a helpful, compassionate tool—not a last resort or sign of failure. When symptoms such as persistent anxiety, depression, panic, intrusive thoughts, irritability, or significant mood swings begin to affect work, relationships, sleep, or overall quality of life, a medication evaluation can create real relief. Some women benefit from antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications, others from targeted sleep supports or mood stabilizers, and some from a collaborative approach that includes hormonal treatment with their OBGYN. Pregnancy and breastfeeding deserve special consideration, but many medications are safe, and for some women, staying on or beginning treatment may support a healthier pregnancy or postpartum experience. Medication is never the whole story—it’s simply one tool that can help a woman feel more like herself so she can fully participate in her life. Your body is wise. Your emotions are valid. And your journey through hormonal change is part of what makes you resilient and deeply human. Whether you’re guiding a teenager through puberty, navigating pregnancy or postpartum, wrestling with perimenopause, or stepping into the transition of menopause, you deserve care, community, and compassion. If you ever wonder whether therapy, medication, or evaluation might help, reach out. You are not alone—and you never have to walk these changes by yourself. When women support each other, we don’t just survive these transitions. We thrive.
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In the practice of psychotherapy, therapists learn about and utilize many tools to help our clients find lasting change, improving their overall mental health and wellbeing, and psychotropic medications can be one of those tools. It is important to realize that not everyone needs medication to treat their mental health symptoms, and not everyone who needs medication will need it forever. The purpose of this article is to provide basic education about psychotropic medications, because I find that most of my clients who take psychotropic medications are under-educated about them, and many clients who do not take medications are scared to start for the same reason. How do psychotropic medications affect the brain?Mental health disorders (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, etc…) are a result of chemical imbalances in the brain, specifically of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. These chemical imbalances can be endogenous (genetic factors, internally caused), exogenous (life events, trauma, external factors), or both. Psychotropic medications work to create balance in neurotransmitters by adjusting how the receptors in the brain absorb the chemical, effectively reducing negative symptoms. Different medications work on different neurotransmitters, and it varies individually what each person’s brain needs or will respond to, depending on symptoms and brain chemistry. What are the types of psychotropic medication? Anti-Anxiety Medications
Anti-Depressant Medications
Antipsychotic Medications Used to treat Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders, Severe Depression and Severe Anxiety.
Mood Stabilizers Used to treat the mood swings of Bipolar Disorder, and sometimes to enhance the effect of other medications when treating Depression. Reduce excitability in the brain, to calm overstimulated and overactive neurons. Many anticonvulsant medications are used as mood stabilizers. Examples: Lithium (Eskalith), Depakote (Divalproex Sodium), Lamictal (Lamotrigine), Tegretol (Carbamazepine), Topamax (Topiramate), Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine) Stimulants Used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), increase dopamine and norepinephrine. Can be addictive and can easily form a dependence. Examples: Adderall (Amphetamine), Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine), Focalin (dexmethylphenidate), Ritalin/Concerta (methylphenidate), Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) Who can prescribe psychotropic medications? While a licensed therapist or counselor may be knowledgeable about psychotropic medications, only medical professionals can prescribe them. The medical professionals with the most knowledge and training in prescribing psychoactive medications are Psychiatrists. Psychiatrists are medical doctors (MD) that have completed residency and training in psychiatry. Most psychiatrists do not engage in talk therapy; they focus on symptom and medication management in brief (15-20 minute) appointments. Other medical professionals able to prescribe psychotropic medications are Primary Care Physicians (MD/GP), Physician Assistants (PA), Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP), Nurse Practitioners (NP), Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM), and Gynecologists/Obstetricians (OB/GYN). How do I know if I need psychotropic medications? In my practice, for someone who is not currently taking psychotropic medications, I will generally recommend medications if we seem to continue hitting a wall with ongoing negative symptoms, despite all reasonable efforts to improve them. If adding structure, recognizing and changing thinking, improving overall physical health, learning emotional identification and expression, and addressing spiritual health doesn’t improve symptoms markedly, this indicates to me that the symptoms are endogenous in nature, and need chemical help to mitigate. What do I need to be aware of if I start taking psychotropic medications? All medications generally have some risk of side-effects, some more troublesome than others. Speaking with your prescribing physician and doing your own research are important before starting on any psychotropic medication. Most common side-effects for psychotropic medications are disturbances in sleep and appetite. Some of these can be mitigated by adjusting the time of day they are taken (morning if the medication is activating to your brain at night), and taking them with food to reduce nausea. Research has shown that the most effective treatment for mental health disorders is a combination of medication and therapy. Taking psychotropic medications without including therapy will not result in lasting change and improvement in symptoms. For real and sustained life change, medications can help provide enough of a lift or relief of symptoms so work can happen in therapy, to prevent recurrence of negative symptoms.
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© 2015-2026 Banyan Tree Counseling PLLC | Banyan Integrated Health PLLC | Banyan Tree Wellness LLC | All Rights Reserved.
All content on this website, unless otherwise specified, is the sole property of Banyan Tree Counseling & Wellness and is protected by copyright laws.
Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or use of this content is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.