The Cycle: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD

by Shalene Gupta

Overview

A groundbreaking exploration of a debilitating disorder that’s underdiagnosed and misunderstood.

Most days, Shalene Gupta was the person she’d always aspired to be. She was hardworking, excelled at work, and had a long-term boyfriend who she desperately loved.

Then, every month like clockwork, it all came crashing down in fits of rage and inconsolable sorrow. Work became meaningless, and she struggled to get through the day. The lows were subterranean.

After years of struggling to get an answer from doctors, Shalene learned she was one of millions who live with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a severe form of PMS. The physical and mental effects of this disorder are undeniable, but for decades some doctors didn’t even consider PMDD a real condition. How could so many people be suffering at the hands of a chronic condition that doesn’t even exist?

The Cycle uncovers a hidden epidemic, delivering the definitive portrait of a widespread chronic illness most people haven’t even heard of. From a historical overview of feminist debates, to on-the-ground interviews and a searing critique of menstrual stigma, Shalene Gupta lays out how disregard for this disorder has left too many people scrambling for appropriate healthcare. Deeply researched, movingly intimate, and refreshingly hopeful, this book is essential reading for any curious reader, especially those navigating a world ill-equipped to support their health.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250882912
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	02/25/2025
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	774,303
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Shalene Gupta is a reporter whose work has appeared in several publications including The Atlantic, ESPN, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review. She is the co-author of The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It (Public Affairs, 2021) with Harvard Business School professor Sandra Sucher. In the past she was a reporter for Fortune where she wrote about the intersection of diversity and tech.

Gupta has also served as a financial specialist for the U.S. Department of Treasury and taught English in Malaysia on a Fulbright scholarship. She has a BA in creative writing and psychology from Johns Hopkins University and an MS from Columbia Journalism School.

Editorial Reviews

"Shalene Gupta deftly blends her own personal experiences with a meticulously researched history of how the medical establishment has understood (or failed to understand) PMDD through the years. An unflinching exploration of the stigma surrounding periods and mental health, and how we need far more support, research, and treatment options for conditions like PMDD that affect both."
— Karen Tang, MD, MPH, author of It's Not Hysteria

"As someone who also suffers from PMDD, I found that Gupta offers crucial information on this too often misunderstood and misdiagnosed medical condition. The Cycle reaffirms how critical it is to believe women and center the stories of women of color. Her book gives us permission to talk about having PMDD and the pain in our lives."
— Anushay Hossain, author of The Pain Gap

“A brilliant, deeply researched book about living with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) — something that too often is experienced as a shaming, quiet, and personal mystery in a society that is uncomfortable discussing periods or validating their significant medical and mental health impact. Gupta combines memoir and research flawlessly so that readers understand the profound personal impact of PMDD as well as the financial, interpersonal, and societal consequences. This is a critical addition to books about medical issues that are too often under-researched, undiagnosed, and stigmatizing to those who are suffering.”
—Michelle Bowdler, author of Is Rape a Crime?

From the Publisher

2023-10-21
A well-informed look at a misunderstood disorder.

Journalist Gupta, who suffers from premenstrual dysphoric disorder, offers a close look at the medical, social, and psychological issues surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of menstrual disorders, with the hope that her findings will help the “3 to 8 percent of menstruators” who meet the criteria for this severe syndrome. Too often, she reports, “the never-ending loop of social stigma against menstruation” means that such disorders go untreated. Cultural prejudices and sexism within the medical system have led some women with PMDD—and even Gupta, at times—to doubt their experiences. Her own suffering—which included depression so severe that she became suicidal, as well as angry, violent fights with her boyfriends—persisted for over a decade before she received a diagnosis, and then she spent a year trying to find the proper medications that would alleviate the symptoms. Gupta provides an overview of the menstrual cycle and its effects on many women. Premenstrual syndrome, experienced by about 48% of women, is characterized by physical symptoms such as bloating and insomnia, as well as psychological symptoms such as mood swings and premenstrual mood exacerbation, in which preexisting psychological symptoms, such as depression, get worse during menstruation. Beginning in the 1980s, when little research on PMDD was available and it was often conflated with PMS, debate swirled over whether to include PMDD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Some medical practitioners were opposed, fearing that the diagnosis would victimize women by turning “a regular biological event into a mental disorder.” In 2013, it was finally included, and in 2019, the World Health Organization recognized PMDD as a diagnosis in its International Classification of Diseases. With ample evidence from her own life, Gupta ably depicts the reality and intensity of an affliction that rages into a monthly “emotional storm.”

An informative melding of memoir and research.

Kirkus Reviews