Sex hormones are critically important for the maintenance of a normal mind but are equally involved in the development of mental illnesses.

I remember some years ago looking up the definition of major depressive disorder (MDD).  The book described major depression as a "psychiatric disorder" characterized by a set of typical symptoms, which it went on to describe in some detail.

 This evening as I walked the dogs in a nearby park, a man, his pushbike lying on the ground nearby, was setting up a small tent in the shelter of a tree beside the lagoon.  It was raw, raining & quite harsh by California standards, & I felt badly for him.

The human mind, in my opinion the subject most worthy of our (human) consideration, defining the very profound limits of our inner space, is at the same time ironically the most elusive subject in our experience.  After all, how can one understand mind, using mind? 

Mental dysfunction is not based on some structural distortion, such as a lump or an obstruction which, once developed, does not go away. Mental illness comes & goes repeatedly.

Generalized anxiety is debilitating, profoundly hormone-sensitive & more than twice as frequent in women, its abrupt attacks episodically clustering during periods of hormonal flux such as PMS, where estradiol is dipping.