Case report, 2020
What causes severe psychiatric symptoms that recur with the menstrual cycle, and how should they be treated?
Menstrual psychosis is a rare condition where severe psychiatric symptoms occur cyclically with menstruation. Hormonal therapy is more effective than antipsychotic medications alone.
What they did
Case report of a 25-year-old woman with recurrent hospitalizations for psychiatric symptoms that followed her menstrual cycle, plus a review of about 80 other reported cases in the medical literature.
What they found
About 80 cases of menstrual psychosis have been reported in the medical literature. The woman in this case experienced repeated hospitalizations for mental status changes, psychotic symptoms and catatonia that appeared to follow her menstrual cycle. Between episodes, despite continued antipsychotic medication, she returned to normal functioning. Symptoms only resolved when hormonal therapy was started.
What it means for you
Menstrual psychosis is rare but real, and often missed. When psychiatric symptoms follow a cyclical pattern with menstruation, hormonal therapy should be considered because antipsychotic medications alone often do not work. The main limit is that only 80 cases have been reported, so this is very rare and we know little about it.
80
cases of menstrual psychosis reported in medical literature
25
age of woman in case
About the study
- Original title
- Perimenstrual psychiatric hospitalization: case report and literature review
- Authors
- Ward HB, Greenberg JA, Almeida M
- Journal
- Archives of women's mental health
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Case report
- Participants
- 80
- What was tested
- Hormonal therapy for menstrual psychosis.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s00737-019-00967-3
Topics
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