While training as a therapist, Tory Eisenlohr-Moul noticed some patients experienced chronic suicidal thoughts that varied from week to week. When one patient mentioned her menstrual cycle affecting her symptoms, Eisenlohr-Moul focused on the potential impact of menstruation.
Eisenlohr-Moul had patients monitor their mood symptoms in relation to their menstrual cycle and found that for many patients, this was a significant factor in the fluctuation of suicidal thoughts and depression.
Eisenlohr-Moul led a study to examine how suicidal thoughts change throughout the menstrual cycle, resulting in a longitudinal study. The study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. A study in December followed 119 female patients who tracked their suicidal thoughts and mental health symptoms daily over at least one menstrual cycle. It was found that female patients with a history of suicidality have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or planning surrounding menstruation.
The researchers defined suicidal ideation as wishing to go to sleep and never wake up, or feeling that one might be better off dead. Suicidal planning involves thinking about how and when to kill oneself and which methods to use.
Data from female patients in Chicago and North Carolina was used in the study, with participants required to have a regular menstrual cycle and not be on certain forms of birth control. They also could not have been recently pregnant.
Patients were asked about thoughts related to death, killing themselves, or wishing to be dead. Those who reported such symptoms within the past month were asked to track them.
Previous research had shown that suicide attempts increased just before or during menses. The UIC study, however, was unique in its ability to measure day-to-day patterns of suicidal thoughts, finding that suicidal ideation was more severe and planning was more likely to occur in the week before and during menses compared to other times.
The study found that suicidal ideation and planning peak premenstrually for most people, while the lowest levels are experienced during the early luteal phase. Symptoms like depression, hopelessness, and loss of interest in usual activities were found to drive increases in suicidal ideation during the peri-menstrual phase. It was depression that primarily contributed to suicidal planning.
Shalene Gupta dealt with thoughts of wanting to end her life. The journalist from Boston had intense emotions when she was in her mid-20s. In 2020, she was diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a severe type of premenstrual syndrome with physical and behavioral symptoms that usually go away when menstruation starts.
Shalene Gupta used to think she was a bad person with poor emotional control because she would have terrible fights with her boyfriend once a month. She is usually calm and conflict-averse but would have intense fights, including screaming, walking around at midnight, and threatening to break up, a few days before her period. She eventually broke up with her boyfriend after six years. When she started dating her now husband, the pattern of fights continued, prompting her to research menstrual rage, PMS, and anger. Eventually, she sought help for the disorder after talking to her doctor. Gupta wrote a book about her experience with menstruation and PMDD.
The couple broke up after being together for six years. When Gupta started dating her now husband, the pattern of fights continued. This led her to research about menstrual rage, PMS, and anger. After speaking with her doctor, Gupta, who is now 36, sought help for the disorder. She also wrote a book about her experience with menstruation and PMDD.The book, called “The Cycle: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD,” written by Gupta, discusses the history of PMDD and its journey. Gupta cites the work of Eisenlohr-Moul in her book.Gupta wrote a book called “The Cycle: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD,