Knowra Premenstrual dysphoric disorder Premenstrual dysphoric disorder Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a condition involving severe mood and physical symptoms in the late luteal phase that improve soon after menstruation begins. Its defining pattern is cyclical and causes significant distress or impairment.
Luteal phase : The menstrual-cycle phase after ovulation, when the corpus luteum produces progesterone before menstruation. Symptoms typically emerge during this phase and ease as it ends.
Menstrual cycle : The recurring hormonal and anatomical changes that prepare the body for possible pregnancy. The disorder’s symptoms are defined by their timing within this cycle.
PMDD diagnosis : The clinical determination that cyclical symptoms meet established criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Diagnosis requires a characteristic symptom pattern, clinically significant impairment, and exclusion of better explanations.
Premenstrual exacerbation : Worsening of an existing medical or psychiatric disorder before menstruation, with symptoms also present at other cycle times. Unlike PMDD, the underlying symptoms do not disappear in the follicular phase.
Allopregnanolone : A neuroactive steroid made from progesterone that modulates GABA-A receptors in the brain. Altered sensitivity to this progesterone-derived neurosteroid is a leading account of symptom biology.
Premenstrual syndrome : Recurring physical or emotional symptoms before menstruation that are less severe or impairing than those of premenstrual dysphoric disorder. The distinction depends on symptom severity, impairment, and diagnostic criteria.
Intermittent SSRI dosing : Taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor only during part of the menstrual cycle. Luteal-phase dosing can target the predictable symptom window.
Major depressive disorder : A mood disorder involving persistent or recurrent episodes of depressed mood or loss of interest and associated symptoms. Mood symptoms that remain outside the premenstrual window may indicate depression rather than PMDD.
GABA-A receptor : A ligand-gated ion channel through which gamma-aminobutyric acid usually inhibits neural activity. Allopregnanolone acts on these receptors, linking ovarian-cycle changes to brain signaling.
DSM-5 : The fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Its criteria specify the symptom count, timing, and impairment required for diagnosis.
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