Professor Deborah Denno was quoted in an article for BBC, examining premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and how it sometimes is raised in legal cases involving women committing aggressive acts but remains poorly understood.
PMDD is much more intense than its better-known relative, PMS, with physical symptoms including fatigue and migraines, while the psychological symptoms can include the severe mood swings and anxiety that plagued Henaghan. The disorder can be so debilitating that 15% of those with PMDD have attempted suicide, and some young women affected are opting for hysterectomies.
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The menstrual cycle can affect the brain in both positive and negative ways as women’s hormones fluctuate. It can make them more anxious and irritable at certain points but also improve their spatial awareness and communication skills. Various studies have indicated that PMS, the symptoms some women get in the week or two before their period, is at least partially influenced by genetics and can be passed on from mothers to their daughters. And research published in 2017 also found unusual gene expression in people with PMDD that makes them unusually sensitive to oestrogen and progesterone.
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It’s hard to know how often PMDD is being raised in legal cases now. Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York, says that in the US “there’s not a register of them, a lot are settled as plea bargains”.