Emma Hardy: PMDD & The Truth About Female Rage
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an R Media podcast. Marie Claire presents You're Gonna Want to Hear This.
forgiving yourself when you can't be perfectly in control like the idea of controlling how you act can lead to this feedback loop of anxiety anxiety like what am I going to do what am I going to do what am I going to do whereas if you allow yourself to be emotional and not don't judge yourself so much you'll actually I find at least that those highs and lows kind of can balance out if it's not perfect I'm still like dramatic emotional all of those things
Hello, and welcome back to You're Gonna Wanna Hear This, the podcast where ordinary women share extraordinary stories. I'm your host, Georgie McCourt, the editor of Marie Claire. Okay, before I was diagnosed with PMDD, and if you're wondering what that stands for, it stands for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I genuinely thought I was losing my mind. For two weeks every month, I became someone that I barely recognised. Irrationally angry, overwhelmed, emotional, exhausted. And then my period would arrive and it would all disappear, leaving me wondering how I had spiralled so far and so fast. For years, I thought that I was alone in that experience. And then I read Emma Hardy's extraordinary new memoir, Periodic Bitch.
Great title. It is a memoir of menstruation, madness and monsters. The book explores what happens when your own brain becomes something that you don't entirely trust. And trust me, that can be pretty scary. Every 29 days, Emma finds herself battling rage and despair, intrusive thoughts and emotional chaos. And when she's finally diagnosed with PMDD, she begins a much bigger investigation into female illness and hysteria, rage, relationships, and also the stories that we've been telling women about their bodies for centuries. What I love most about this book is that it is brutally honest. Emma writes about the parts many women are ashamed to admit, the anger, resentment, the fear, and the moments when you don't recognise yourself.
But she also asks the bigger questions, like when is a mood just a mood? When does it become an illness? And also, why are women's experiences so often misunderstood or just dismissed? Whether you've experienced PMDD yourself, someone you love has, or if you've ever wondered why women's pain is still so poorly understood, I think you're going to find this conversation incredibly validating. Let's meet Emma Hardy. Emma, welcome. Welcome to You're Going to Want to Hear This. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Well, I am excited as well because as we said before we started recording, I have my own personal journey with PMDD. But before we start, because I do want to dive straight in, but I realize you have written a whole book about PMDD, but I want to explain to our listeners exactly what it is before we dive in.
So PMDD, the way I describe it in like every person's language is like extreme PMS or It's a mood disorder that takes place before your period. So that's in the 10 days, one week, two weeks before you actually menstruate. And its symptoms are like severe irritability, depression, conflict in relationships, even suicidal ideation. The reality is it's not actually PMS. It is a neurological disorder where basically your body has normal hormonal levels, but your brain's neurosteroids are responding badly to them. So you can think of it like an allergic reaction at the conversion level. They're still figuring a lot out about it, but that's what PMDD is.
So how long did it take you to be diagnosed with PMDD?
Well, I was diagnosed very quickly. I was diagnosed by a man at a bulk billing clinic who saw me for 15 minutes. But I was skeptical of that diagnosis. It seemed like I'd come in upset. He wrote that I had a childlike affect. And I didn't quite believe that I was upset just because of my period. It just seemed really misogynistic to me. And then when Melbourne's lockdowns happened, well, was that true?
What is PMDD and how does it differ from PMS?
I guess it resonated with me. So it seemed really misogynistic to me. It did resonate with me.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–4:29
2
What is PMDD and how does it differ from PMS?
4:29–20:32
3
How did Emma Hardy navigate her journey to diagnosis?
20:32–33:55
4
What impact does PMDD have on relationships and self-worth?
33:55–39:16
5
Why is female anger often mischaracterized as madness?
39:16–45:17
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from You’re Gonna Want To Hear This
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