Hormones, moods, and trauma have a relationship within your body.
PMDD, or Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, is a cyclical mood disorder affecting 1 in 20 menstruators. PMDD sufferers experience an abnormal response to normal hormonal changes during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle, typically Day 18 forward, for those with a regular cycle. Symptoms include frustration, anxiety, depressed mood, hopelessness, inability to concentrate, impulsiveness, increased sensitivity to rejection, mood swings, tearfulness, and self-judgmental thinking that may lead to feelings of guilt. These are on a continuum, and are stress-sensitive; not all individuals experience every symptom each month. PMDD-related mood disruptions often impact professional lives, damage relationships, and can even result in physical harm.
IF: You experience a distinct difference in your mindset, beginning 10-14 days before your period starts.
IF: Depression, fears, and anger increase significantly at this time as well - along with relational conflicts.
IF: You experience intense stress, sometimes including suicidal ideation, which is alleviated within hours to days after starting your cycle.
You might have PMDD.
IF: You are between the ages of 40 and 60, and are experiencing decreased, increased or irregular menstrual cycle lengths.
IF: You’ve been experiencing brain fog, insomnia, and low libido.
IF: You are increasingly drained, enraged, and feeling like experiences you’d thought you processed long ago have resurfaced.
You might be Perimenopausal.
Beginning as early as 35, Perimenopause describes the “adolescence in reverse” that all menstruators must go through on their way to Menopause (the final cessation of menstruation). For those who already experience PMDD, it may arrive as a worsening and unpredictability of symptoms. The menstrual cycle and its accompanying hormones become increasingly erratic now, resulting in many individuals with no prior history of hormonal sensitivity or mental health issues to experience onset of panic, sadness, and hopelessness during these years. Perimenopause may be very unpleasant, yet can provide the opportunity to resolve residual trauma and heal fully in order to move into later life empowered and whole.
IF: You are easily overwhelmed by stimulation in your immediate environment.
IF: You tend to be influenced by, or even take on, other’s emotions.
IF: You struggle with indecisiveness, time management, or stressful situations.
You might be a Highly Sensitive Person.
High Sensitivity is a normal trait found in about 20% of all mammals (you might have a highly sensitive dog or cat), which carries with it some additional considerations. Also known as being an “empath”, characteristics include: becoming easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli such as light, sound or smell; struggle to work under time constraints; inability to tolerate violence in media, unusual artistic talent, vivid imagination, and wanting a lot of time alone to recharge. Empaths are at an increased vulnerability to PMDD, and Perimenopausal symptoms.
IF: You personally have experienced, or you observed a loved one experiencing, a potentially life-threatening event - recently, or years ago.
IF: You grew up in a home in which you did not feel safe, seen, or supported.
IF: You hold a marginalized identity due to gender, race, sexuality, or ability; your ancestors experienced genocide, war, or other cultural trauma.
You might have trauma to work through.
Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes, and few of us escape it. “Big T” or “Little T”, it all has an impact. In fact, there may even be things you don’t consider to be “trauma”, that are shaping you subconsciously. While there are unfortunately MANY traumas you may encounter in this world, there are several that are disproportionately experienced by women that tend to get especially swept under the rug…
Infertility. Whether you’ve experienced recurrent miscarriages, or an inability to conceive, it can be heartbreaking and isolating to navigate. We often get the message that our bodies are “supposed” to able to sustain a pregnancy, and it can be easy to feel like something is “wrong” with you if it is a challenge. Alternatively, you could be childless due to life circumstances (un-partnered, or financially unstable) even though you’d always envisioned yourself as a parent. These are both circumstances of disenfranchised grief that our greater culture does not honor.
Sexual abuse. Rape culture permeates our society, which has made the experience of intimate violence and violation all too common. Whether you were incested as child, experienced date rape as a teenager, quietly endured inappropriate sexualized attention at work in your twenties, or have been in countless other disempowered scenarios, I see you. Psychotherapy is critical in order to process what has happened in your world, be able to stabilize your emotional wellbeing, and to reintegrate a healthy sense of self. I hate that it happened to you, and you do not have to remain a victim.
Abortion. Deeply fraught, personally and politically. Regardless of your opinions, the truth is that women have been taking control of their reproductive lives in this way for millennia. While legal to varying degrees in the United States at this time, individuals make the choice to terminate pregnancies for so many reasons - personal, medical, and nuanced. Even when it is an intentional decision, we might still want some support. Unfortunately, the cultural stigma around this often leads those who have moved through the experience of terminating a pregnancy to feel isolated, along with a sense of embarrassment.
"Everything about you is right.”
~ Alexandra Pope & Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer, Wild Power