Review, 1971
Could hormone-driven changes in brain chemicals explain premenstrual mood swings?
This 1971 review suggests that shifting levels of ovarian hormones (estrogen, progesterone, aldosterone) during the cycle may affect mood by altering brain chemicals called monoamines, but this is a theory built from combining older human and animal studies, not a new trial in women with PMS.
What they did
This is a review paper. The authors combined earlier research, including studies on the menstrual cycle, birth control pill use, childbirth, and animal experiments in rats and rhesus monkeys, to look for links between ovarian hormones, brain chemicals (norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin), and mood and sexual changes.
What they found
The review reports that psychiatric hospital admissions and suicidal activity rise around the time before and during menstruation. Premenstrual symptoms are described as starting when luteal hormones (estrogen, progesterone, aldosterone) rise and worsening as they fall before menstruation. Aldosterone is reported raised in premenstrual tension syndrome. Mood changes are also linked to starting or stopping birth control pills, and drugs such as lithium, MAO inhibitors, and tricyclic antidepressants are reported to help. Animal studies showed estrogen and progesterone affected mating behaviour and brain chemical levels in rats and monkeys.
What it means for you
This old review proposes a possible brain-chemistry explanation for hormone-linked mood changes, but it is built by combining many different, mostly older, studies, a lot of them in animals rather than women. It does not test a treatment directly, so it cannot prove this causes premenstrual mood problems.
About the study
- Original title
- Monoamines and ovarian hormone-linked sexual and emotional changes: A review
- Authors
- Janowsky DS, Fann WE, Davis JM
- Journal
- Archives of sexual behavior
- Year
- 1971
- Study design
- Review
- What was tested
- None tested directly; reviews reports on birth control pills and mood medicines (lithium, MAO inhibitors, antidepressants).
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/bf01541683
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