Survey study, 2020
How is premenstrual dysphoric disorder different from premenstrual syndrome, and what treatment helps?
PMDD is more severe than PMS and causes real disability in daily life, affecting fewer women. SSRIs are described as working well, sometimes with progestogens added. This is based on one patient case and a review of past research, not a trial, so certainty is low.
What they did
The authors described one woman referred to a mental health unit for suspected PMDD, and reviewed previously published research on accepted treatments for PMDD, comparing it with other mood disorders.
What they found
Premenstrual syndrome affects 75-80% of women, while PMDD affects 5-8% of women. PMDD involves physical and emotional symptoms that cause real dysfunction or disability, unlike the milder mood changes most women experience. Based on the reviewed literature, treatment with SSRIs works well, and adding progestogens may help when SSRIs alone do not work.
What it means for you
PMDD should be considered separately from ordinary mood or anxiety problems in women of childbearing age, because it causes more serious disability. Since this is based on a single patient case and a review rather than a new trial, it cannot tell us how well these treatments work for women in general.
75-80%
women who experience premenstrual syndrome
5-8%
women who experience PMDD
About the study
- Original title
- 经前期综合征与奖赏进程失调——来自脑电的证据
- Authors
- Lulu Hou, Lirong CHEN, Renlai Zhou
- Journal
- Acta Psychologica Sinica
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 259
- What was tested
- SSRIs, with progestogens added if SSRIs alone did not help.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1041.2020.00742
Topics
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