252 - Bryony Gordon: mental health, hormones and witchy magic

The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

This week on the podcast, journalist Bryony Gordon, bestselling author of several books including her latest, Mad Woman, explains how the perimenopause caused her to reconsider her mental health. Was her experience of OCD affected by her hormones and what would society look like if women’s health was taken more seriously?

Bryony shares her belief that there’s a 'witchy magic' to menopause and that the issues it brings are the ones that you need to deal with and there is power in doing so.

Finally, Bryony shares three bits of advice to any woman being dismissed with 'it’s just your hormones':

1. Don’t dismiss yourself. Don’t discount your point of view or feelings just because they are yours. Maybe sometimes you're right, maybe sometimes you're wrong - that's OK.
2. It's OK sometimes to be bad. We all are. It’s just society wants us to live as women in a way that isn't very human.
3. Confidence is a trick. No one has confidence. I don't have confidence. I just have a will and a desperation not to spend the rest of my life hating on myself because it's such a waste of energy.

Follow Bryony on Instagram @bryonygordon her community organisation @Mental Health Mates

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