The Menarche, Menstruation, Menopause and Mental Health (4M) consortium is a network to facilitate collaborative, interdisciplinary, impactful research into how menstruation and menopause interact with mental health.

4M was established in 2021, led by Dr Gemma Sharp, with funding from the GW4 Alliance.

There are currently over 400 members from all around the world.

Our vision and mission

We are creating a world in which menstrual experiences, including events around menarche and menopause, do not adversely affect mental health and social wellbeing.

We believe that decisions and practices about individuals’ menstrual and mental health should be informed by scientific understanding and listening to the needs and experiences of those individuals. Therefore, our mission is to facilitate interdisciplinary, stakeholder-informed, impact-focused, inclusive research at the intersection of menstrual and mental health. The research we facilitate aims to develop a better understanding of: 

• The biological, psychological, social, and environmental mechanisms that link menstrual and mental health; 
• How interventions can effectively target these mechanisms to improve the relationship between menstrual and mental health; 
• How these mechanisms and interventions affect menstrual and mental health differently in different contexts and at different stages of the life course, from menarche to menopause.

Our approach

We facilitate research by introducing and connecting academic researchers from and across multiple disciplines. This includes early career researchers, who we try to support to develop and sustain their careers in this burgeoning interdisciplinary field.

We also build collaborations with non-academic stakeholders (for example, patients, healthcare providers, charities, and policy makers), who can provide a unique insight into research need, facilitate lived experience research, and help ensure our research is used to improve the lives of women and people who menstruate.