FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT IS THERAPY?
Therapy, when broken down to its basic parts, is about having a space to be able to think through your feelings and experiences with someone who is trained and practiced in listening, accepting and not judging. It is a supportive space just for you, where your thoughts and needs are the priority and where you can safely think about all aspects of yourself.
An important aim of therapy is to help you understand yourself better and feel more at home with yourself. It is a place where you can think about how you respond and react to the world around you.
There are several of different types of talking therapies. They all have different approaches to working with clients (or patients). There are 3 main schools of therapy: CBT, Analysts and Humanistic therapists. When looking for a therapist, it is worth spending a bit of time researching how each method approaches therapy in order to find one in which you feel comfortable and confident.
WHAT IS PMDD?
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder affects roughly 5.5% of women and AFAB individuals of reproductive age.
PMDD symptoms include mood swings, depression, anxiety, rage and sometimes suicidal thoughts. Physical symptoms in PMDD include fatigue, bloating, aching and sleep issues.
These symptoms are only present a couple of weeks before the menstrual period starts. Which can make the presentation seem like a mood disorder, however tracking the cycle will reveal that these symptoms are only present in 1-2 weeks prior to menstruation.
We know that PMDD is caused by an abnormal brain reaction to normal changes in hormones across the cycle.
Hormone levels are not imbalanced in PMDD, but the brain cannot adapt to the normal monthly changes for an unknown reason. PMDD is a suspected genetic disorder.