Once a month most women go through menstruation. While some women don’t experience any symptoms, some experience various symptoms during their cycle, such as cramps, bloating, headaches and the list can go on. This sounds normal, right?
Generally, we can associate these symptoms with PMS (premenstrual syndrome). However, with the newest edition of the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder), a manual used by many health professionals to determine an individual’s diagnosis based on a set criteria, these symptoms are now being classified as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and categorized under depressive disorders! PMDD is an extension of PMS, however, PMDD’s symptoms can be a bit more intense.
Let’s take a look at this for a second ladies and break this down! According to the DSM-V, there are three categories in which five symptoms must be present to be given a diagnosis of PMDD.
Symptoms can include:
In category A, five symptoms must be present in the final week before the onset of menses and being to improve within a few days of the onset of menses and become minimal or absent in the week after menses (DSM V, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). So in a nutshell ladies, we have to begin experiencing symptoms prior to our cycle beginning and they must end after the cycle has ended.
READ: 5 Ways Your Period Affects Your Hair & Skin
Category B states a woman must experience marked affective lability. This just a fancy way of saying we must be all over the place experiencing mood swings, irritability, anxiety, etc.
Finally, a few symptoms in category C include subjective difficulty in concentration, marked change in appetite, lethargy, etc. (DSM V, American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
In order to be “diagnosed’ with this now depressive disorder, you must experience one or more symptoms in both category B and C for a total of five symptoms. Can you believe this? Since the beginning of time women have probably been experiencing symptoms associated with their menstrual cycle but now it’s a depressive disorder?
This is why I have a love/hate relationship with the DSM. As a clinician myself, I personally do not agree with everything this book says. I certainly do not agree with this! Our bodies change and sometimes we are impacted by those changes. It doesn’t make us “abnormal.” In my personal opinion it makes us human. I’m assuming the American Psychological Association decided to give PMDD a classification because of how its symptoms can affect behavioral functioning (inserts eye roll).
So what are the cures or ways to manage symptoms, you ask? Some ladies take Advil, Pamprin, use heating pads or natural remedies. In more severe cases when those options fail, hormonal contraceptives or other prescribed medications are used.
Ladies, what do you think of PMDD?
Should it be classified as a depressive disorder? Are you affected by PMDD? If so, how do you manage your symptoms? Let the #curlycounselor know!
Takeya McCollum mixes beauty with brains as a licensed professional counselor who holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. By leveraging her other love of all things beauty and helping people, Takeya has positioned herself as “The Curly Counselor” offering beauty tips while overlapping important counseling techniques designed to help women and men address relevant mental health issues. Follow her on Instagram @Takeya_Monique.
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