Mental health conditions have long been suspected of having an endocrine basis, and some doctors prescribe HRT as a way to either help increase the effects of a psychotropic drug prescribed to people or even as monotherapy. One of the most common mental health condition is chronic anxiety, often as a result of a traumatic event/memory. In the most extreme cases, this chronic anxiety has been deemed to be a separate condition, known as PTSD. One of the most common symptoms of both chronic anxiety and PTSD is recurring traumatic memories, which causes a great deal of anguish to the patients with such conditions. Psychiatrists have been trying for years to treat this issue with “talk therapy”, but the results have been very disappointing so far. In animal studies, the administration of either androgens to males or progesterone to females has been shown to ameliorate such conditions, and the study below suggests the same approach may work in humans. Namely, then the progesterone/estrogen ratio is elevated (naturally or through the administration of progesterone) the female patients were much more able to forget their traumatic experience. The findings of this study also corroborate Ray’s ideas that estrogen is not at all a “female” hormone, but a “shock” hormones, and as such it makes perfect sense that its elevation would result in worse outcomes for mental health conditions such as anxiety/PTSD.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352289526000457?via%3Dihub
“…The researchers collected the saliva samples from each participant before they completed either session—once on Day 1 before the fear learning and then again on Day 2 before the fear extinction. By looking at the saliva sample before the experiment began, the scientists were able to examine each participant’s baseline levels of estradiol and progesterone without stress interference. Additionally, women provided a vaginal swab to help researchers see where they were in their menstrual cycle. (The study included women who were and were not on hormonal birth control.) The scientists then put the saliva through a process that separates and identifies individual molecules to see the levels of hormones present in a sample. They found that when there was a higher ratio of progesterone to estradiol, the participants had an easier time forgetting their fear on Day 2. ”
“…The next step, researchers say, is to validate these findings in larger and more diverse groups and to see whether timing treatments around a patient’s hormonal state could one eventually change how conditions, like PTSD and certain phobias, are treated.”
