ADHD has historically been investigated in women. This means that we still have a limited understanding of how this disease is affected exclusively on women and how hormonal changes affect women with ADHD.
But a new study by me and my colleagues has shown that women with ADHD are at greater risk for mental health campaigns related to the menstrual cycle. We found that having ADHD makes women experience about three times more likely to develop premenstrual dipicoric disorder.
Pre -menstrual dyspurmic disorder (PMDD) is a serious disease that affects about 3 % of women worldwide. The disease can seriously interfere with one’s daily lives and cause symptoms such as mood swings, irritability, depressed mood and anxiety.
These symptoms occur in the days before menstruation and resolve after the period begins. For some, PMDD may lead to severe results, such as increasing the risk of suicide.
We conducted an online survey of 715 women 18 to 34 in the UK. We asked them if they experienced different symptoms of ADHD or PMDD, whether they received ADHD diagnosis from a physician and how symptoms interfere with their lives.
We found that about 31 % of women with ADHD clinical diagnosis also have PMDD, as about 41 % of women scored for ADHD symptoms (whether they were formally diagnosed with ADHD). In comparison, only about 9 % of women without ADHD follow PMDD criteria. We also found that women with ADHD and the clinical diagnosis of depression or anxiety had even more risk of PMDD.
The study showed that the most common symptoms of PMDD that women have experienced are irritability, drowning, and depression. But women with ADHD may also experience insomnia during PMDD.
Link PMDD and ADHD
Our study is not the first to show the relationship between two conditions, but the first to identify the risk of a similar PMDD among women with ADHD symptoms, not just among those who were treated. We are also the first to show that people with ADHD’s depression or anxiety plus are at greater risk for PMDD.
Other research suggests that women with ADHD may also be at greater risk of mental health problems in other cases. For example, a study showed that women with ADHD experienced higher depression and anxiety after a combination of oral birth control drugs. Another study showed that women with ADHD probably experience depression after delivery than people without illness.
It is now necessary to understand why women with ADHD are more vulnerable to PMDD, and whether this affects what the treatments work best.
It should be noted that our study evaluates “temporary PMDD”. A formal diagnosis requires two months of tracking symptoms during the menstrual cycle. But we have asked women to remember how they feel in their menstrual cycle, not how they feel in real time.
This means that we can evaluate the prevalence of PMDD as much or below because we rely on participants to remember our symptoms.
Future research should evaluate PMDD symptoms among women in real -time because they experience their menstrual cycles to evaluate the symptoms more accurately without having to trust people’s memory. In addition, the diagnosis of PMDD from other disorders that may worsen in the pre -menstrual period, such as depression or anxiety, may be difficult. Tracking symptoms during the menstrual cycle in the real time helps to separate this.
PMDD can have a profound impact on women’s lives. Some women even report that they can feel “physically unable to see happiness in things”. Although symptoms can be prescribed with treatments, this can only happen if the doctor is diagnosed.
Our new research shows that women with ADHD are a risk group for PMDD, especially if they have depression or anxiety. This shows that physicians should consider PMDD screening among women with ADHD to reduce distress and adverse consequences associated with the disease.
Jessica Ageno-Blays is a senior psychology lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.
This article is published by Creative Commons. Read Main articleHuman
