Off-Label: Lived, Embodied, and Temporal Experiences of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) in Canada

This study describes lived, embodied, and temporal experiences of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Interviews were conducted with 10 people living in Canada who had PMDD and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019), informed by feminist disability theorizing (Garland-Thomson, 2002). Three main themes were developed: the temporal cloud, which represents the cycle of PMDD symptoms and their embodied impacts, including suicidality; the mis-sing, which encompasses mis/diagnoses, medical mistrust and mistreatment, and misunderstandings of episodic disability; and invisible suffering, which was exhibited through masking. Thus, centering lived experiences can enrich understandings of PMDD and inform high-quality care.