Working with the Menstrual Cycle in Psychotherapy

Working with the Menstrual Cycle in Psychotherapy

Recorded Saturday 14 January 2023

With Dr Margaret Altemus, Letticia Banton, Danielle Redland and Jane Catherine Severn

CPD Credits: 4.5 hours

The menstrual cycle is an integral part of many women’s daily lived experience for around three decades of their life. Each month female hormonal fluctuations result in a range of physiological, physical, and psychological changes that can impact a woman’s identity in a profound way, at bio-psycho-social and spiritual levels of experience. Yet in 2022, many people don’t openly discuss the menstrual cycle in western mainstream culture, and it carries a lingering shadow of shame.

The menstrual cycle has been overlooked and this is most evident in psychotherapeutic theory, research, and training.

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FULL PROGRAMME

Letticia Banton
Contextual Lens
From wandering womb to raging hormones: the impact of history on why psychotherapy is so silent on the menstrual cycle

Dr Margaret Altemus
Menstrual Cycle Hormones and Mental Health
The menstrual cycle enables ovulation and conception through a sequence of hormonal changes. The hormonal fluxes across the menstrual cycle are associated with physical and psychological symptoms in most women which are mild and do not impair functioning. However, some women experience disabling symptoms, with approximately 5% meeting diagnostic criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. For women with psychiatric disorders, symptoms are often exacerbated premenstrually. The menstrual cycle can be disrupted by food restriction, excessive exercise, and hormonal disorders including polycystic ovary syndrome and hyperandrogenism. The effect of mood disorders and stress on the menstrual cycle is less robust. Several treatment strategies have been identified for premenstrual psychological symptoms. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying premenstrual symptoms are unclear and more research is needed to develop more targeted treatments.

Q&A

Danielle Redland
Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Menstruation and Secondary Amenorrhea

Whatever a patient’s sex or gender, recollections and experiences of menstruation and secondary amenorrhea in a therapy can inform us of how they view themselves and the world around them. Stories of menarche often infer sadistic tendencies from the mother and seek room for expression. Narratives of irregular or absent periods can signify a lived or inherited abuse, trauma, or neglect. Menstruation is a key feature of identity, expressing a continuation and solidarity, sometimes rejected by the individual, as seen in anorexia. We should be curious about a patient’s periodicity and when appropriate enquire of it in the first consultation just as we would any other reality.

Q&A

Jane Catherine Severn
Femenome: A cycle-logical approach to therapy with women

Inside every woman who comes to us, something essential, eloquent and profound is asking to be heard – something to which we psychotherapists have traditionally paid little attention. At best our unawareness limits the help we can offer. At worst it may mean we are unwittingly working against our clients’ innate growth catalysts. This presentation offers a radical re-cognition of the female psyche-logical design – a comprehensive model and freshly minted lexicon of the menstrual cycle within the overall psychospiritual Self-developmental sequence of menarche, menstrual cycle years, menopause and mature life – as a compellingly relevant diagnostic and remedial tool for therapy with women.

Q&A

Panel Session with Q&A
Thinking about how to integrate the menstrual cycle in therapeutic practice

FEES

Includes: 1 year’s access, test and CPD Certificate of Attendance, subtitles and transcript

INDIVIDUAL

£60 (or £48 Confer member)

GROUP RATE

£50pp in groups of over 10 (please apply to accounts@confer.uk.com)

CPD

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits for 4.5 hours are available as part of the course fee. You will need to pass a multiple choice questionnaire related to the content in order to receive your certificate. You can submit this test up to a maximum of 5 times.

SCHEDULE

00:5:55
Letticia Banton

00:24:33
Dr Margaret Altemus

01:17:15
Q&A

01:24:59
Danielle Redland

01:59:18
Q&A

02:12:07
Jane Catherine Severn

02:59:46
Q&A

03:13:55
Panel Session with Q&A

03:56:14
End

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By attending this workshop virtually, participants will be able to:
  • Develop a multidisciplinary understanding of the place of the menstrual cycle in psychotherapy
  • Integrate biopsychology, psychoanalytical and humanistic therapy perspectives
  • Describe the hormonal changes of the normal menstrual cycle and how they relate to uterine tissue changes and ovulation.
  • Describe the effects of typical menstrual cycle hormone changes on mood in healthy women and women with psychiatric disorders
  • Identify common etiologies of disrupted menstrual cycle function including food restriction, excessive exercise, polycystic ovary syndrome, and hyperandrogenism.