Contraceptive methods have social images or social stereotypes which may vary over time and may be strongly influenced by single events like a serious complication in a young woman. Wishes regarding the role and/or involvement of the partner vary largely. The knowledge and understanding of what the individual woman wants is an important part of contraceptive counselling. Healthcare professionals seem to be very focused on the objective characteristics of the woman seeking advice, rather than what the woman actually wants and is comfortable with. One way of assessing the subjectivity of the woman is asking, either during the dialogue in the consultation room or by using a questionnaire in the waiting room, about her expectations and experiences regarding the criteria, like efficacy, safety, side effects, relation to sexual activity, duration of action, control, cost, involvement of partner or other family members and additional health benefits.

The menstrual and urogenital changes associated with perimenopause can be very distressing. Seventy-five percent of postmenopausal women experience atrophic genital changes. Vasomotor symptoms are often the most disruptive perimenopausal symptoms that a woman experiences. These can occur even before she sees any change in her menstrual pattern. There is significant variation in an individual woman's response to these, and the symptoms can be distracting, cause insomnia, and lead to unpleasant social situations. Menstrual patterns are altered in many ways, including menorrhagia, menometrorrhagia, oligomenorrhea, intermenstrual bleeding, polymenorrhea, postcoital bleeding and postmenopausal bleeding. In one small survey, 93% of women reported one of these changes in the five years prior to menopause. Etiologies of abnormal menstrual bleeding include endocrine abnormalities, pregnancy related, infectious (genital and systemic), neoplasms (benign and malignant) of pelvic organs, uterine abnormalities, coagulation disorders, liver disease, medication (iatrogenic), and trauma. Women with life-threatening bleeding need immediate treatment.