(L.A.) Sharon Sognalian, 55, Died on Railroad Tracks
Case Number: 2026-04464
Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 55-year-old female that occurred on railroad tracks.
The coroner’s office identified the woman as Sharon Sognalian. Born in L.A. County.
Manner of Death: Suicide
Cause of Death: Multiple Blunt-Force Traumatic Injuries
RIP SHARON A SOGNALIAN (May 31, 1970 – March 14, 2026)
Formal pronouncement of death was made on Saturday.
In February 2024, the decedent was mentioned in a Los Angeles Times article on the Atwater Village Moms’ Facebook group.
“When Sharon Sognalian’s apartment rental fell through, the legal staffer and mother of a 12-year-old moved into another member’s back house.”
The decedent’s surname at birth was Sognalian. Her father’s surname is Sognalian.
Perimenopause most often begins in a woman’s 40s, but many women continue to experience its effects into their mid-50s. During this time, drastic hormonal fluctuations contribute to symptoms such as mood changes, sleep disruption, and anxiety. Women face a heightened risk of depression and suicidal attempts, making mid-life a particularly vulnerable period for mental health, especially when compounded by external stressors or emotional triggers. Unfortunately, many people fail to recognize the hormonal roots of these struggles and instead dismiss them as signs of a mental illness.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12515336/
A 2025 systematic review published in Women’s Health (Hendriks et al.) examined 19 studies and found that 84% reported an association between the menopausal transition and increased suicidality, with 7 studies specifically noting this association in perimenopausal women.
The menopausal transition is a critical phase in a woman’s life marked by hormonal fluctuations that can result in a wide variety of physical and psychological symptoms. These symptoms vary in strength and their negative impacts on women’s health and well-being. One of the most severe impacts of (peri)menopause is increased vulnerability to suicidality.
The mental toll of menopause – what women really feel
Hormonal changes during menopause can drive suicidal thoughts – a crisis that healthcare services have failed to recognize or adequately address.
The hormonal upheaval of menopause doesn’t occur in isolation. In midlife, women juggle caring responsibilities, career pressures and domestic demands. These are pressures that layer on to the biological changes they’re experiencing, creating an intense mix of physical and emotional strain.
Women are only now being recognized to be losing their capacity to make decisions due to menopausal symptoms. Yet, for many, these symptoms are misunderstood or dismissed as mental illness.
This dismissal has deep historical roots. The outdated diagnosis of female “hysteria” – a misogynistic label used to pathologize women’s emotions – once justified treatments as extreme as asylum confinement and electroconvulsive therapy. The word may be gone, but its legacy endures in the way women’s hormonal suffering is still minimized as exaggeration or overreaction.