--- title: Can women get psychosis linked to their menstrual cycle? | Niyora description: Yes, menstrual psychosis exists but is extremely rare, with only 30 cases reported worldwide. Estrogen's effect on the brain may play a role. url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/menstrual-psychosis-diagnosis-does-it-still-hold-2022/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Can women get psychosis linked to their menstrual cycle? Survey study, 2022 # Can women get psychosis linked to their menstrual cycle? Yes, menstrual psychosis exists but is extremely rare, with only 30 cases reported worldwide. Estrogen's effect on the brain may play a role. Early or limited evidence One 39-year-old woman; plus review of 30 reported cases worldwide ## What they did Described one 39-year-old woman who experienced psychotic episodes tied to menstruation and reviewed the medical literature for similar cases. ## What they found The patient had at least 6 episodes lasting about 3 days each, with symptoms including loss of speech, delusions, and inability to care for herself. All episodes coincided with menstruation. Treatment with venlafaxine 75mg and paliperidone 6mg resolved the psychotic symptoms within a week. ## What it means for you Menstrual psychosis is extremely rare but appears to be real. More research is needed to understand why some women develop psychotic symptoms tied to their cycle. This is based on one case report, not a study of many people. 39 age of patient in years at least 6 number of episodes 30 total cases reported worldwide ## About the study Original title Menstrual psychosis diagnosis: Does it still hold? Authors Adão C, Donas-Boto I, Velosa A et al. Journal European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists Year 2022 Study design Survey study Participants 30 What was tested Venlafaxine 75mg and paliperidone 6mg Open access Yes Read the paper [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9562409/](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9562409/) Original abstract Introduction: Menstrual psychosis was first described in the 18th century. Brockington defined its characteristics: acute onset; brief duration with full recovery; confusion, stupor and mutism, delusions, hallucinations, or a manic syndrome and periodicity in temporal association with the menstrual cycle. Objectives: Description of a clinical case of menstrual psychosis and review of the literature. Methods: Description of a clinical case. Non systematic review of the literature, searching the terms “psychosis”; “menstrual”; “catamenial” in the databases Pubmed, Medline and Cochrane. Results: Female, 39-year-old patient. No psychiatric history until the postpartum period of a traumatic vaginal birth, when she developed stupor and mutism which lasted for two days. During the following 2 years, she progressively presented with sadness, asthenia, anhedonia, insomnia and incapacity for self-care. She was prescribed paroxetine and olanzapine, with partial recovery. Subsequently, she had at least 6 episodes with about 3-day duration of asthenia, food refusal, insomnia, incapacity for self-care, disorganization of thought and behavior and mystical and persecutory delusions, coincident with the beginning of menstruation. She was hospitalized in two of them and received treatment with venlafaxine 75mg and paliperidone 6mg, with psychotic symptoms remission after a week. Conclusions: This case presents the characteristics of menstrual psychosis. This is a rare condition, with only 30 reported cases worldwide. According to current classification systems, this condition fulfills diagnostic criteria for brief psychotic disorder. Nonetheless, studying in more detail this disorder could be interesting, with the goal of deepening the knowledge of the neurobiology of psychosis, particularly the effects of estrogen on this disorder. Disclosure: No significant relationships. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Menstrual psychosis](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-menstrual-psychosis/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Sleep and insomnia](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-sleep/)[SSRIs and antidepressants](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-ssri/)[Bipolar disorder](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-bipolar/)[Schizophrenia and psychosis](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-psychosis/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Review, 2005 How does acute tryptophan depletion help us understand mood disorders? Study, 2026 Do anxiety and depression get worse before your period if you already have a mental health condition? Survey study, 2026 What is the true rate of PMDD, and does it worsen mental health conditions? Guideline, 2014 What antidepressant should doctors use to treat depression and premenstrual dysphoric disorder? Cohort study, 2011 Does premenstrual symptom worsening change how bipolar disorder develops over time? Case report, 2026 Can hormonal therapy treat psychotic symptoms tied to the menstrual cycle? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗