Women's Mental Health Matters: case studies

This collection of case studies illustrate the need for action as set out in our Women's Mental Health Matters strategy.

Clare’s story – bipolar disorder, hormonal vulnerability and missed opportunities for care

Clare first began experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder in her teens, but like many young women, her early warning signs were missed.

From age 15, she experienced severe seasonal depressions coinciding with puberty, followed by increasingly intense summer highs marked by reduced sleep, irritability and impulsive, out‑of‑character behaviour. Despite this clear pattern, she remained undiagnosed for nearly a decade.

She was finally admitted to hospital at 23 during a manic episode, at which point she received her diagnosis. Lithium brought stability, but she also faced distressing misinformation, including being told she might “never be able to have children,” something she later learned was inaccurate and harmful.

As Clare built her career and later retrained as a psychologist, she became increasingly aware of how little guidance women receive about bipolar disorder, reproductive mental health and hormonal triggers. After experiencing postpartum psychosis herself, she dedicated her work to improving understanding of how hormonal transitions from menstruation to pregnancy to perimenopause can precipitate relapse.

Reflecting on her experience, Clare said:

“Looking back… I don't think it was coincidental that that's when I started my periods… our cycles and hormones are a big trigger for our illness.”

“I retrained in psychology… because of my concerns at the lack of preconception advice for women.”

“So many people could live so much better lives if it just got a bit more attention.”

Toni’s story – Caring across the life course

Toni is a parent‑carer to a daughter who accessed CAMHS. She highlights how women are over‑represented in caring roles, yet their needs and contributions are often overlooked.

For her family, the life‑course lens is essential: her daughter was navigating adolescence, while Toni was managing menopausal symptoms both affecting their mental health and shaping how they engaged with services.

She describes the importance of carers being meaningfully involved in service planning, policy development and clinical decision‑making. Throughout her daughter’s care, she encountered systems that often overlooked the perspectives of women carers, despite their central role in supporting recovery.

Toni’s positive involvement in co‑producing this strategy where she felt respected, listened to and treated as an equal demonstrated what trauma‑informed, inclusive practice can look like in reality.

Sara’s story - When trauma goes unrecognised

After the birth of her son, Sara, a survivor of domestic abuse, developed severe PTSD. She had previously received effective trauma‑specialist care abroad and knew what support she needed, but after moving to the UK this care was no longer available.

As she explains: “I knew what care I needed after the birth of my son because I’d received it before and it worked. Unfortunately, it had to reach crisis point before that trauma was taken seriously.”

Without trauma‑informed support, her symptoms escalated rapidly. Later, when she and her son became homeless, services again overlooked the psychological impact, leaving her feeling unsafe, dismissed and unsupported.

Sara’s experience illustrates how unrecognised trauma and fragmented pathways can lead to avoidable crisis and long‑term harm.

Anita's story - Privacy and dignity for women in inpatient services

Anita was 25 when she was admitted to a mixed-sex acute ward while experiencing psychosis. During this time, she believed that God was punishing her because she felt ashamed for not sharing the gospel.

She interpreted this as a command to remove her clothes, so that she would feel as ashamed of herself as she believed God felt about her. As a result, she undressed and walked into the mixed-sex lounge.

Staff did not attempt to cover her. Instead, both male and female staff restrained her and returned her to her room. A female staff member asked, “Why are you doing this, Anita?”, but Anita did not respond.

She returned to the lounge without clothes on two more occasions, and each time staff restrained her and took her back to her room. Eventually, a staff member was stationed outside her room to prevent her from leaving.

Reflecting on the experience later, Anita said: “When I recovered, I felt deeply ashamed about what had happened. No one ever asked me about it at the time, and it has never been addressed in my care since. I believed I was the only person who had ever behaved this way.”

She has since learned that this kind of disinhibition can occur when people are unwell, as she was.

“We need to talk more openly about this to reduce the shame. I am also still surprised that simple measures such as single-sex wards are not consistently in place in mental health services, as they could greatly improve safety, privacy, and dignity for women.”