Evidence-based psychological support for the cognitive, emotional and identity dimensions of perimenopause and menopause — from a consultant clinical psychologist who specialises in this transition.
The brain changes during perimenopause and menopause in ways that profoundly affect how you think, feel, remember and experience yourself. Many women describe cognitive fog, low mood, anxiety, disrupted sleep and a quietly destabilising sense that they no longer quite recognise themselves.
These experiences are real and they are significant. But they are also not the full story of what this transition means — or what it makes possible.
Psychological therapy does not treat the hormonal changes of menopause. What it can do is help you understand what is happening, build genuine resilience, process what is shifting in your sense of identity, and find a relationship with this period of your life that is informed rather than reactive.
My approach to menopause psychology is integrative and evidence-based. I draw on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), schema therapy, and compassion-focused work, informed throughout by my neuroscience background — which shapes how I understand the brain changes underlying what you are experiencing.
This is not about managing symptoms and waiting for it to pass. It is about developing a genuinely different relationship with this transition — understanding it, responding to it with intelligence, and using it as an opportunity to understand yourself more fully.
I work with women who are high-functioning, accustomed to being on top of things, and who find the experience of not quite being themselves particularly disorienting. I understand that context — the gap between how you present and how you feel — and I work within it.
"The women who get the most from this work are those who are willing to take their own experience seriously — not minimise it, not just push through, but actually understand what is happening and why."
Dr Sanya Krljes · Consultant Clinical Psychologist
HRT addresses hormonal change. Mindfulness apps offer brief relief. Coaching works at the level of behaviour. Psychological therapy works at the level of meaning — the beliefs, schemas and patterns that determine how you experience and respond to what is happening to you.
The psychological dimensions of menopause are genuinely complex. They involve neurobiology, identity, relationship patterns, often longstanding schemas around performance and self-worth, and a cultural context that largely fails women at this transition. Addressing that requires depth, expertise and sustained work — not a six-week programme.
I am a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with doctorates in both cognitive neuroscience (Imperial College London) and clinical psychology (UCL), and over 20 years of clinical experience. I have specialist expertise in menopause psychology at a level that very few practitioners in London offer.
I work with professionals and high-achieving women who need their psychologist to understand their context — the demands, the standards, the particular difficulty of struggling when you are accustomed to functioning well. I understand that context and I work within it.
Qualifications
MSc Neuroscience — King's College London
PhD Cognitive Neuroscience — Imperial College London
DClinPsy — University College London
HCPC Registered · BPS Chartered Psychologist & AFBPsS
A free 30-minute consultation — by phone or video — where you can tell me a little about what has brought you here. No pressure, no obligation.
hello@praxispsychology.uk · London & Online