Survey study, 2005
Can menstruation trigger severe mental illness like psychosis?
Yes. Medical case reports show that menstruation can trigger psychotic episodes in some women, particularly around the time of the period or repeatedly in cycles tied to the menstrual cycle.
What they did
Literature review. Researchers examined published case reports in medical literature about psychosis linked to menstruation and organized them into a new classification system.
What they found
Cases documented psychotic episodes that began before the period, during the period, between periods, or in the middle of the cycle. Some women experienced continuous illness that worsened and improved in a pattern linked to their menstrual cycle. At least 20 women in the medical literature experienced both menstrual psychosis and postpartum psychosis at different times in their lives. Episodes were most common around the time of first menstruation and after childbirth.
What it means for you
Menstruation can trigger or worsen psychotic symptoms in some women. These episodes may be part of bipolar disorder. However, most evidence comes from individual case reports rather than large systematic studies, so we don't know how common this is. The timing of episodes suggests a connection to female hormones, but the exact mechanism is unknown.
20
Women with both psychoses
4
Onset types documented
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual psychosis
- Authors
- Brockington I
- Journal
- World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)
- Year
- 2005
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 20
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16633495/
Topics
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