Survey study, 2025
What do women with PMDD want in a mental health program?
Women want programs that address serious mental health impacts like suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, and anxiety, plus effects on relationships. They also want evidence-based information and techniques for managing difficult emotions.
What they did
Anonymous online survey of 308 women with PMDD who follow the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders on social media. They rated what topics and features they wanted in a mental health program.
What they found
Women rated suicidality, hopelessness, anxiety, and impacts on relationships with partners and children as important areas to address. Providing evidence-based information and teaching techniques for managing distressing thoughts and emotions were highly desired.
What it means for you
A PMDD mental health program needs to focus on serious emotional and relationship impacts, not just physical symptoms. This is based on what women themselves said they wanted, but the study did not test an actual program.
308
women surveyed
About the study
- Original title
- Patient-identified priorities for a mental health program tailored to premenstrual dysphoric disorder
- Authors
- Chenji S, Bueno C, Ly M et al.
- Journal
- Women's health (London, England)
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 308
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1177/17455057251331697
Original abstract
Background: There are no mental health programs tailored to premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Objectives: Examine the content and features that PMDD patients desire in a mental health program. Design: Anonymous online survey. Methods: A survey, co-developed with PMDD patients, was distributed to followers of the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders (IAPMD) on social media. Respondents rated the importance of addressing various PMDD symptoms, psychosocial consequences, psychoeducational topics, and their preference for various techniques and features. Results: In total, 308 respondents rated suicidality, feelings of hopelessness and anxiety, and impacts on one's relationship with one's partner and children as important content areas for a PMDD-tailored mental health program. Providing evidence-based information and teaching techniques for managing distressing thoughts and emotions were also highly desired. Conclusion: Our findings help inform the development of a new mental health program that specifically addresses the unique emotional and psychosocial challenges associated with PMDD.
Reproduced under CC-BY.
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