October 9, 2024

Support from Sun Life to Fund Research into New Mental Health Treatments for Women Living with Trauma

A new donation of over $200,000 made by Sun Life is earmarked towards two research projects investigating novel treatments to support the mental health of women who have experienced trauma and are affected by hormonal sensitivity. These projects will be led by Dr. Benicio Frey, Medical Director of the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic at St. Joe’s, and his research team.

Data shows that women who’ve experienced trauma live with its after-effects like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). At the same time, these women are also more likely to experience hormonal sensitivity which causes severe changes in their mood and mental health following normal hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle. The challenge is that at present, these women are often only treated for their anxiety or their PTSD, but not their complex, co-presenting symptoms.

As a regional lead for mental health and addictions care and a major birthing centre, St. Joe’s has a unique opportunity to explore the link between women’s reproductive milestones and their mental health and well-being.

“For years, women’s health and research has been overlooked and underfunded. Working with St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is just one of the ways we’re focused on helping bring women’s health to the forefront,” said Alison Chick, Senior Vice-President, Health Solutions at Sun Life Canada. “This research will work to fill a gap, helping us to better understand the connection between women’s reproductive phases and their mental health. The more we know, the more we can do to help create meaningful impact for all women across Canada.”

The first research project aims to integrate proven strategies from cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for coping with trauma; cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to ease symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia; and dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) to help regulate emotions. This novel combination of proven to be effective techniques applies a more holistic strategy to treating multiple mental health concerns or symptoms.

The second project will explore the link between women who’ve experienced childhood trauma and their increased likelihood of experiencing hormonal sensitivity and mental health concerns later in life. The study aims to confirm the causal effect and the identify the mechanisms behind it. Leveraging epigenetics, blood and protein analyses, researchers aim to isolate and identify the biological and psychological markers for increased vulnerability to hormonal sensitivity to help inform the creation of new therapies and therapeutic medications.

“The connection between trauma and hormonal sensitivity and their compounding effect on the mental health of women is currently under-researched, and that leaves room for gaps in care,” says Dr. Frey. “There is a vulnerable population of patients whom we hope to help through these projects, and we’re grateful to Sunlife for their support. With this boost in funding, we’ll not only test our new treatments and hypotheses, but widely share this new knowledge with others. So that, ultimately, we’re improving the care for women locally, nationally, and around the world, too.”