ABSTRACT
My interest in the effect of the ovarian sex steroids on female sexual functioning was triggered by the women patients who consulted me when I was a young general practitioner in the early 1970s. A number of women asked me whether the oral contraceptive pill could have affected their mood and sexual functioning, which they perceived to have deteriorated with the use of the oral contraceptive pill. In trying to answer their questions, I embarked on a journey that has led to a career in academic research with clinical training in psychiatry and a PhD in reproductive endocrinology. For the last 30 years I have studied the effects of changes in endogenous or exogenous sex steroid hormones on sexuality. Thus our studies have examined changes in mood, sexuality, or both with the menstrual cycle (Dennerstein, Smith, Morse, & Burger, 1994), oral contraceptive pill use (Dennerstein, 1999), postpartum (Dennerstein, Lehert, & Riphagen, 1989), hysterectomy (Dennerstein, Wood, & Burrows, 1977; Ryan, Dennerstein, & Pepperell, 1989), with the natural menopausal transition (Dennerstein, Dudley, & Burger, 2001; Dennerstein, Randolph, Taffe, Dudley, & Burger, 2002), and with use of estrogen and progestin after bilateral oophorectomy (Dennerstein, Burrows, Hyman, & Sharpe, 1979, 1980). Our studies have involved double-blind randomized clinical trials, observational studies, bioavailability studies, and critical literature reviewsthe full gamut of research. These approaches are complementary and will be drawn on in this chapter, which focuses on the menopausal transition.
