Neuroimaging selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment in patients with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

Main Supervisor: Erika Comasco 
Assistant Supervisor: Jonas Bergquist, Inger Sundström Poromaa and Johan Wikström

What is your educational background?
Psychology

Why did you apply to WOMHER's interdisciplinary graduate school?
To take part in and contribute to a vibrant and stimulating research environment, dedicated to address highly relevant societal and scientific questions of translational scope.

Tell us more about your research project?
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the first-line therapy in the treatment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder in favor of rapid pharmacodynamic action and mild side effects in intermittent treatment regimens. The neurobiological basis for such persuasive clinical efficacy of SSRIs in PMDD remains a terra incognita of PMDD research. It has been hypothesized that serotonergic modulation in the complex interplay with endogenous gonadal steroids synergistically modify the brain’s excitability-inhibitory balance and thus contribute to the reduction of PMDD symptoms. The study of immediate neural correlates of SSRI treatment in PMDD is at the heart of my research focus.

What do you hope the impact of this project to be?
The project might help to delineate susceptibility factors of hormonally-related psychiatric conditions such as PMDD, which might help to confine treatment strategies and predict potential treatment outcome.

Other information, references and links
English: Yonkers, K. A., O'Brien, P. M. & Eriksson, E. Premenstrual syndrome. Lancet 371, 1200-1210, doi:S0140-6736(08)60527-9