Managing Hot Flushes with Group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Myra Hunter is Professor of Clinical Health Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. She has worked in the area of women’s health for over 30 years and has over 150 publications including six books. Her research on menopause has established her as an international expert in the field. Melanie Smith is a clinical psychologist, who has specialised in helping people to manage physical health conditions using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). She researched and provided the CBT for women with hot flushes in the MENOS trials at King’s College London and is currently with Salford Pain Centre, Manchester.

"I was so exhausted with the menopause that I started taking more and more days off work. After I took part in the Group CBT I had fewer night sweats, my sleep was less disturbed and I began to have more energy. One of the most helpful things was learning about the physiology of the flushes, and realising I wasn’t having some sort of psychological problem but something everyone experiences. Now I’m back at work and if I have a flush I breathe through it and tell myself it will pass. It’s just not a problem any more. I think CBT should be free on the NHS." - Lynne, who attended the Group CBT programme."Myra Hunter has dedicated her career to working in women’s health and, with Melanie Smith, has spent many years developing and testing the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as an intervention to help women during midlife. They have gained considerable knowledge and expertise in this area, identifying what women find helpful and honing the intervention. They have delivered courses to many groups of women who have benefited from this approach to menopause management and have now pooled this expertise into a manual for other health professionals." From the Foreword - Dr Deborah Fenlon, Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton, Clinical Advisor for Breast Cancer Care and Chair of the National Cancer Research Institute Clinical Studies Group for breast cancer working party on symptom management (vasomotor).

• Fenlon, Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Session 1: Psychoeducation and the Cognitive Behavioural Model. Session 2: Stress Management, Improving Wellbeing and Identifying Precipitants. Session 3: Managing Hot Flushes Using a Cognitive Behavioural Approach. Session 4: Managing Night Sweats and Improving Sleep (Part One). Session 5: Managing Night Sweats and Sleep (Part Two). Session 6: Review and Maintaining Changes. Resources. References. Appendix: Handouts. Slides. Index