Treatment
It is essential that the diagnosis is firmly established by precise dating of episodes and the menses. Two cycles of prospective daily ratings (recommended for the diagnosis of menstrual mood disorder) is not sufficient for menstrual psychosis. It is also important to obtain a gynaecological opinion, because correction of abnormal menstruation may be important in treatment.
Standard tranquillizing drugs or electroconvulsive treatment may be effective in the acute episode, but are ineffective in arresting the cyclical illness. This, with its pattern of monthly relapses, offers an opportunity for single patient sequential trials. Many unconventional treatments have been tried and claimed to be effective. At present, the most promising appear to be thyroid and clomiphene.
Read more about this topic: Menstrual Psychosis
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“Any important disease whose causality is murky, and for which treatment is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“I feel that any form of so called psychotherapy is strongly contraindicated for addicts.... The question “Why did you start using narcotics in the first place?” should never be asked. It is quite as irrelevant to treatment as it would be to ask a malarial patient why he went to a malarial area.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the child’s duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)