Many women suffer every month from symptoms such as: depressed mood, anxiety, excessive emotional sensitivity, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, headaches, etc. These symptoms are part of premenstrual syndrome although, according to Dr. Leire Aperribai, there is still no agreement regarding the definition and diagnostic criteria of this disease, “and, therefore, it is difficult to channel appropriate interventions to treat to women who suffer these symptoms.” Aperribai has sought to begin to solve this problem through her doctoral thesis, titled: “An evaluation of Premenstrual Dysphoric Syndrome: building a screening tool.”
Symptoms disappear at the beginning of menstruation
His first task was to define the disorder, and to do so he took the DSM-IV as a basis. This manual defines premenstrual dysphoric disorder and proposes a diagnostic criterion for it. For example, it explains that the symptoms are serious enough to cause problems in social and work aspects and points out that this happens during the luteal phase, that is, the period that takes place between ovulation and menstruation.
The manual also comments that the symptoms disappear at the beginning of menstruation and that, to be considered a disorder, it is necessary that at least 5 symptoms related to it occur, and one of them must be one of the following: depressed mood , feelings of despair or self-rejection; clearly distinguishable internal anxiety, tension, a feeling of not being able to endure any more, marked emotional lability, in other words, sadness, bursting into tears or manifestations of emotional hypersensitivity when feeling rejected by others and irritability.
In Aperribai’s view, the manual gives premenstrual dysphoric disorder a special identity, despite the fact that it is still classified among those described as “depressive disorders not otherwise specified,” so it constitutes a strong proposal in taking the main groups of symptoms under consideration. Aperribai also added that among the current classifications, this is the one that has been most accepted.
This is not a diagnostic tool
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Validation and utility
Taking as a starting point the definitions and criteria provided by the DSM-IV, Aperribai has produced a series of questions and validated them with the help of interviews with women who work or study at any of the 3 campuses of the . And in this way she has verified her trustworthiness. In fact, and according to current calculations, this disorder is suffered by between 3% and 10% of the population; In the study done by Aperribai, in contrast, it was found that it affects 15%.
The author has explained that this difference is “normal as it is a screening test. That is, this is not a diagnostic tool, but rather a filter to discern who suffers from the disorder and who does not.” In this regard, she stressed its usefulness both in research and in health centers. It takes 10 minutes or less to take the test and a lot of progress can be made by doing it. After this, diagnostic tests can be carried out on positive cases which may take up to 2 months.
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