The purpose of this study is to find out how the female body is portrayed by Swedish brands focused on intimate care products. The focus lies on the brands Libresse and Deodoc and their marketing material on Instagram. A goal-oriented selection was carried out, based on three criteria in order to collect as much relevant material as possible. In order to carry this out the images had to contain at least one of these critera; a body, a feminist message, or blood. A total of seven images from Libresse’s Instagram account, as well as five from Deodoc’s was selected, all published between 2020 and 2022. The hope was to gain perspective and understanding of how this can affect women's self-image and view of their own bodies through a qualitative approach. This was done through research questions that concern women's experience of menstruation, as well as how the female body is portrayed, and in what way this portrayal is carried out and performed. Since this study focuses on marketing, it is also of great importance to examine how the field of tension between feminist messages and feminism for commercial purposes are expressed. In addition to these research questions, the results have also been discussed based on how the content of the brands’ posts can potentially affect women’s construction of self-image. The method used is a multimodal discourse analysis which makes an analysis of both text and image material possible by using a number of analysis tools. Using this method, several posts from Libresse’s Swedish Instagram account and Deodoc’s Instagram account were analyzed. These tools, together with previously carried out research and theories, have made it possible to analyze material from which societal discourses have emerged. The study has gained perspective from previous research on feminism in media, critical menstruation studies and feminism in commercial purposes. The theories that were used are brand identity, different gender theoretical perspectives, and theories of social semiotics. The study showed that the brands’ posts on Instagram conveyed several discourses; knowledge about the female body is important, that all bodies are beautiful, that you should take care of your body and that menstruation is normal. The discourse that was most dominant in the study’s empirical material was that knowledge about the female body is important, this was because of how the female body was most often portrayed. An increased knowledge of the female body can lead to an improved societal view of women in general, but also potentially contribute to an improved self-esteem and self-image in women. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur kvinnokroppen porträtteras genom svenska varumärken inriktade på intimprodukter. Fokus ligger på varumärkena Libresse och Deodoc och deras inlägg på Instagram. Ett målinriktat urval genomfördes, som utgick ifrån tre kriterier, för att samla in ett så relevant material som möjligt. Detta innebar att bilderna behövde innehålla minst ett av följande kriterier; en kropp, ett feministiskt budskap, eller blod. Totalt sju bilder från Libresse Instagramkonto, samt fem från Deodocs valdes ut. Samtliga bilder publicerades mellan år 2020, till och med år 2022. Förhoppningen var att få en förståelse om hur detta potentiellt kan påverka kvinnor självbild och syn på sina egna kroppar, genom ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt. Detta genom forskningsfrågor som berör hur kvinnors upplevelse av menstruation, samt hur kvinnokroppen porträtteras, och på vilket sätt denna porträttering utförs. Eftersom studien fokuserar på marknadsföring var det även av stor vikt att undersöka hur spänningsfältet mellan feministiska budskap och feminism i kommersiellt syfte uttrycks. Utöver dessa forskningsfrågor har även resultatet diskuterats utifrån hur innehållet i varumärkenas inlägg potentiellt kan påverka konstruktionen av kvinnors självbild. Metoden som användes var en multimodal kritisk diskursanalys som möjliggjorde en analys av både material i bild och text genom ett antal analysverktyg. Med hjälp av denna metod har ett flertal inlägg från Libresse Sveriges Instagramkonto och Deodocs Instagramkonto analyserats. Dessa verktyg tillsammans med tidigare utförd forskning och teorier har möjliggjort analys av materialet där samhälleliga diskurser framkommit. Studien har tagit hjälp av tidigare forskning om feminism i media, kritisk menstruationsforskning, och feminism i kommersiellt syfte. De teorier som användes var varumärkesidentitet, olika genusteoretiska perspektiv, samt teorier om socialsemiotik. Studien visade att varumärkenas inlägg på Instagram förmedlade diskurser om att kunskap kring kvinnokroppen är viktigt, att alla kroppar är vackra, att man ska ta hand om sin kropp, samt att menstruation är normalt. Den diskurs som var mest dominant i studiens empiriska material var kunskap kring kvinnokroppen är viktig. Detta på grund av hur kvinnokroppen oftast porträtterades i materialet. Resultatet visade att en ökad kunskap kring kvinnokroppen skulle kunna leda till en förbättrad samhällelig syn på kvinnan generellt, men även potentiellt bidra till en förbättrad självkänsla och självbild hos kvinnor.

Research within the fields of women’s health and specifically women’s menstrual health and technology is limited. As of today, problems associated with menstrual health, such as pain, discomfort, cramps, bloating, anxiousness and irregular period are resolved by using contraceptive pills or painkillers. The solutions to use contraceptive pills or painkillers have not been beneficial for research nor development of helpful innovative solutions. This thesis evaluates and explore the possibilities to use soft robotics, Soma Design, and Shape Changing Materials (SCM) to develop interactive software programs used to ease menstrual pain in innovative, flexible and comfortable ways. The thesis delves and analyzes the potential opportunities to facilitate the experience of menstruation, to extend and improve the tools available to increase knowledge, awareness and understanding of the menstruating body with the assist of soft robotics and Soma Design principles. Through exploration, construction, development and testing hardware and software systems we were able to create ten software programs that induce pressure and movements in order to ease menstrual pain in comfortable and flexible ways. The programs were tested using a first-person test approach, providing us with the opportunity to develop specific systems for the person's needs on a personal and intimate level. This approach suited the purpose of exploring the possibilities of using modern technologies as a tool for easing menstrual pain. The applied research method was qualitative with an abductive approach and the collected data was analyzed based on predefined measures. The thesis proved that it is possible to ease menstrual pain with use of technologies. The research resulted in five major findings that we argue are important to take into consideration when developing soft robotics; level of interactivity, prototype placement on the body, physical position of body, noise released from hardware and utilization of external means. The discoveries of this thesis will contribute to increased research that utilizes modern technologies to find solutions that eases menstrual pain and increase knowledge regarding menstrual health. Lastly, this thesis highlights the possibilities of using modern technologies that have never to our knowledge been seen or explored before. / Forskning inom teknik i samband med kvinnors hälsa och särskilt menstruation är begränsad. Idag hanteras problem förknippade med menstruation som smärta, kramper, uppblåsthet, ångest eller obehag med hjälp av hormoner i form av p-piller eller andra preventivmedel, alternativt med smärtstillande tabletter. Användandet av dessa metoder har inte varit fördelaktiga för varken forskningen eller utvecklingen av hjälpfulla och innovativa lösningar. Därför kommer den här avhandlingen att utvärdera och utforska möjligheterna kring att använda olika tekniker som soft robotics, Soma Design och form ändrande material för att utveckla interaktiva mjukvaruprogram med anledning att minska menstruationssmärtor på ett innovativt, flexibelt och bekvämt sätt. Dessutom utforskas och analyseras de potentiella möjligheterna till att underlätta upplevelsen av menstruation genom att utvidga och förbättra de tillgängliga hjälpmedel som finns för att öka kunskapen, medvetenheten och förståelsen för den menstruerande kroppen med hjälp av soft robotics och principer från Soma Design. Genom utforskning, konstruktion, utveckling och testning av hårdvara och mjukvara var det möjligt att skapa tio olika program som inducerar tryck för att minska mensvärk på ett bekvämt och flexibelt sätt. De framställda programmen testades med en första persontestmetod vilket gjorde det möjligt att utveckla programmen till att bli formade efter testpersonens specifika behov på en personlig och intim nivå vilket passade syftet att undersöka om det går att minska menstruationsbesvär med moderna tekniker. Metoden som tillämpades var Forskning genom Design där data analyserades utefter förutbestämda krav. Studien gav svar på att det är möjligt att minska menstruationsbesvär med tekniker. Dessutom resulterade studien i fem principer som vi anser bör överses när man arbetar med soft robotics: nivå av interaktivitet, placering av prototypen på kroppen, kroppens fysiska position, ljud från hårdvara och utnyttjande av externa medel. Resultatet från avhandlingen kommer bidra till att öka kunskapen och forskningen kring menstruations hälsa och öka intresset i utveckling av tekniker som soft robotics eller form ändrande material som hjälpmedel i samband med menstruation. Resultatet belyser möjligheterna av att jobba med moderna tekniker, som så vitt vi vet, aldrig har gjorts eller utforskats förut.

Assyriology as a field of study has long been dominated by the ideas and values of the white, Western men who, during the 19th century, were responsible for the development and growth of all scientific research. This has resulted in a resilient androcentric bias in the discipline, which to this day continues to influence scholarly perceptions of Ancient Mesopotamian society - and particularly of Mesopotamian women. Amongst many other things this includes the application of modern, misogynistic prejudice regarding the female body onto Akkadian women; one such modern concept which, despite recent criticism, is still widely accepted as true, is the notion of ‘menstrual impurity’. By the implementation of standpoint theory - an epistemology which emphasises the influence of a scholar’s own experiences on their perception and interpretation of their field of study - this paper examines the translations of three Akkadian terms which have been used to support the alleged existence of the concept of menstrual impurity in Mesopotamia. The terms are reexamined through an analysis of their etymological and contextual semantics, the results of which are then used comparatively in order to determine the validity of their current translations. The results of this analysis reveal a thoroughly biassed and unscientific interpretation process, which perpetuates the androcentric perspective within the discipline and contributes to the spread of a false image of Ancient Mesopotamian women and their lives. Not only is it highly unlikely that any of the analysed terms actually signify menstruation, but the very notion of ‘impurity’, which is indeed a significant part of the words’ meaning, is interpreted in a modern, stereotypically negative sense that most certainly is not reflective of the Mesopotamian perception of the concept.

This thesis builds upon the existing scholarship such as that by Patricia Crawford, Helen King, Alexandra Lord, and Michael Stolberg, to analyse the ways that all aspects of menstruation were accounted for in early-modern England. Broadly informed by cultural materialism, and starting with the wide-range of medical treatises that were published in the early modern period, which theorise the female body, the thesis incorporates a broad range of material from private journals, diaries, and letters to the more public conventionally literary texts such as poetry, prose fiction, and plays. The thesis is structured according to the physiological order of vaginal bleeding as understood in the early-modern period. Starting with menarche the thesis argues that just as the medical texts broadly agree that the ideal age for menarche is fourteen, so social conventions also saw this as a significant age in a girl s growth to maturity. Since fourteen was considered to be the optimum age for menarche any wide variation in this age was seen as problematic; the thesis includes analysis, therefore of early and late menarche. The thesis next examines the surviving accounts of menstruation, arguing that menstruation was something that women were disinclined to write about, preferring to manage the condition privately. The chapter offers an account of how women might have managed the practical aspects of their cycle such as sanitary protection, theorising that the negative associations of menstrual blood in the Bible influence women s position on the matter. The other significant occasions of female bleeding were hymenal and lochial bleeding and the thesis argues that these were seen as analogous to menstrual bleeding, and theorised as such. The thesis demonstrates that hymenal blood was eroticised in the period because of the importance of virginity to this society. Like all occasions of bleeding, pregnancy and lochial bleeding was seen as a dangerous event. The thesis concludes with a review of the presentation of menopause in the period.

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between United States and French cultural expectations and symptoms of menstruation. The study works first to demonstrate that the French culture holds a more positive view of menstruation and the United States a more negative one. This study then proposes the following hypotheses: 1) United States women will report more PMS and other debilitating symptoms, while French women will report less 2) Older, French, menstruating women will rate higher on positive items than any other category of women in France and the United States 3) Younger, French and U.S. American women will rate similar experiences and expectations of menstruation, due to the globalization of cultures. Finally, the study proposes establishing scales that are more multicultural­friendly.

Negative cultural attitudes towards the menstrual cycle have psychological consequences for women. The menstrual cycle in our society is devalued in public discourse and public regard, in which it is viewed as an uncontrollable, painful, and mysterious curse upon womankind. Internalization of these messages may negatively impact women’s self-esteem because of menstruation’s quintessential association with womanhood. Women’s lack of accurate, practical knowledge about the menstrual cycle may be a large contributor to these negative attitudes. The purpose of this proposed research is to investigate whether performing fertility awareness, a daily practice of observing fertility signs to determine the phases in a woman’s menstrual cycle, can increase self-esteem in college-aged women. The study measures perceived control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem in women before and after learning and practicing fertility awareness, as well as comparing those scores to a control group. It is proposed that practicing fertility awareness increases women’s self-esteem and self-efficacy by providing them with perceived control over their reproductive health. Implications for educational imperatives and future research are discussed.

The study aims to examine how teachers in physical education manage students who choose to not participate in class because of menstruation-related causes. The study will answer the following questions. How do teachers react when the students announce that they will not attend because of menstruation-related causes? How do teachers communicate with students who announce that they will not attend because of menstruation-related causes? How do teachers act when the students have announced that they will not attend because of menstruation-related causes? In order to answer the questions, nine teachers in physical education at different upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden, were chosen to conduct qualitative interviews with. The respondents were three men and six women. The teachers in the study stated that students inform them about their menstruation differently; some are more forthright and others approach the teachers more cautiously and whisper it to them. Common reactions among the interviewed teachers were either to act neutral or evaluate the student's credibility. What the teacher responds the student varies from relating to herself, respond with facts or just answer "okay". How the teacher act in this situation differs among the respondents. A common action was to try to get students involved in regular education in any way. Others sent the student for a walk or to the gym, but it was also common to give the student a theoretical task. One teacher also highlighted that the student has to sit on the side and learn the content from the bench. All teachers reported that they had no difficulties to handle the situation, but an interesting response was that they lack education in the area and want to have more knowledge. The conclusion is that there are several ways to deal with a student who does not want to attend classes because of menstruation-related causes. As a teacher in physical education, more education about menstruation and exercise is desired and this requires more research! / Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur lärare i idrott och hälsa hanterar elever som väljer att inte delta på lektionen på grund av menstruationsrelaterade orsaker. Detta genom att svara på följande frågeställningar. Hur reagerar lärare då elever meddelar att de inte kommer delta på grund av menstruationsrelaterade orsaker? Hur kommunicerar lärare med elever som meddelar att de inte kommer delta på grund av menstruationsrelaterade orsaker? Hur agerar lärare efter att elever har meddelat att de inte kommer delta på grund av menstruationsrelaterade orsaker? För att svara på frågeställningarna valdes att genomföra kvalitativa intervjuer med nio lärare i idrott och hälsa från olika gymnasier i Stockholmsområdet. Respondenterna var tre män och sex kvinnor. Lärarna i studien uppgav att eleverna meddelar om sin menstruation på olika sätt; vissa är mer rättframma och andra smyger fram och viskar det. En vanlig reaktion bland de intervjuade lärarna var antingen att spela neutral eller att värdera elevens trovärdighet. Vad läraren svarar eleven varierar mellan att relatera till sig själv, svara med fakta eller helt enkelt bara "okej". Hur läraren agerar vid situationen skiljer sig mellan respondenterna. Ett vanligt agerande var att försöka få eleven delaktig i ordinarie undervisning på något sätt. Andra skickade eleven på promenad eller vidare till gymmet, men att ge eleven en teoretisk uppgift var också vanligt. En lärare lyfte också fram att eleven får sitta på sidan och lära sig innehållet från bänken. Samtliga lärare uppgav att de inte hade några svårigheter att hantera situationen men ett intressant svar var att de saknar utbildning inom området och vill ha mer kunskap. Slutsatsen är att det finns flera sätt att hantera en elev som inte vill delta i undervisningen på grund av menstruationsrelaterade orsaker. Som lärare i idrott och hälsa önskas dock mer utbildning om menstruation och träning och för detta krävs mer forskning.

Primary dysmenorrhoea, or painful menstruation in the absence of pelvic pathology, is a common, and often debilitating, gynaecological condition that affects between 45 to 95% of menstruating women. Despite the high prevalence, dysmenorrhoea is often poorly treated, and even disregarded, by health professionals, pain researchers, and the women themselves, who may accept it as a normal part of the menstrual cycle. The overall purpose of this thesis is two-fold: first, to contribute knowledge about the impact and consequences of recurrent severe menstrual pain on pain sensitivity, mood, quality of life and sleep in women with primary dysmenorrhoea, and secondly, to investigate day-time and night-time treatment of recurrent primary dysmenorrhoeic pain. For this thesis, I completed five separate studies on three different groups of young, otherwise healthy women with a history of severe primary dysmenorrhoea, and age-matched controls without dysmenorrhoea. The first two studies, presented in Chapter 2, addressed the question of whether women with primary dysmenorrhoea are hypersensitive to experimental pain. I used clinically-relevant experimentally-induced muscle pain stimuli (intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline and ischaemia) in referred and non-referred sites of menstrual pain, at different phases of the menstrual cycle. Women with dysmenorrhoea, compared to women without dysmenorrhoea, had increased sensitivity to deep-muscle pain both within the area of referred menstrual pain and at a remote pain-free site. Further, the increased muscle pain sensitivity was evident even in phases of the menstrual cycle when women did not have menstrual pain, illustrating that the changes in pain perception extend outside of the painful menstruation phase. These findings suggest that women with dysmenorrhoea show long-lasting changes in pain processing possibly because of the recurrent dysmenorrhoeic pain. A secondary aim of the study presented in Chapter 2a, was to determine the impact of menstrual cycle phase on experimentally-induced muscle pain sensitivity in women with and without primary dysmenorrhoea. My results suggest that menstrual cycle phase has no effect on pain sensitivity in either group of women. As part of my studies, I investigated the impact of dysmenorrhoeic pain on quality of life and mood. I found that women with dysmenorrhoea had a significantly reduced quality of life (Chapter 3) and poorer mood (Chapter 2a and Chapter 5), during menstruation compared to their pain-free follicular phase, and compared to the menstruation phase of the pain-free control women. These data highlight the negative impact that primary dysmenorrhoea has on young women, for up to a few days every month. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often prescribed as the first-line therapy for menstrual pain. Yet, severe dysmenorrhoeic pain is often poorly managed, especially at night, when the pain likely disrupts sleep. I conducted two studies investigating the effectiveness of diclofenac potassium, a readily-available NSAID with a low side-effect profile, compared to placebo, in alleviating severe primary dysmenorrhoeic pain across the day (Chapter 4), and during the night (Chapter 5). I also investigated the effectiveness of diclofenac potassium in improving subjective and objective sleep quality (Chapter 5). I found that the daily recommended dose (150 mg) of diclofenac potassium, administered at three timepoints across the first 24 hours of menstruation, significantly reduced perceived menstrual pain, compared to placebo. I confirmed that dysmenorrhoeic pain reduces polysomnographic and subjective measures of sleep quality compared with the pain-free follicular phase. I also showed, for the first time, that diclofenac potassium is effective, compared to placebo, in alleviating nocturnal pain, along with restoring subjective sleep quality and polysomnographic measures of objective sleep quality in women with severe primary dysmenorrhoea. My studies have addressed several gaps in the knowledge about primary dysmenorrhoea. I have shown that women with primary dysmenorrhoea are hypersensitive to deep muscle pain, supporting the hypothesis of other researchers that the recurrent menstrual pain experienced by these women is associated with central sensitisation, and may predispose women with primary dysmenorrhoea to other chronic painful conditions. Therefore, limiting the monthly noxious input into the central nervous systems of these women, by means of effective treatment of dysmenorrhoea, may improve their long-term health. The research presented in this thesis further highlights the efficacy of diclofenac potassium in relieving not only day-time and night-time dysmenorrhoeic pain, but also in restoring objective and subjective pain-induced sleep disturbances in women with dysmenorrhoea. Further, my research has shown that dysmenorrhoeic pain has an immediate negative impact on quality of life and mood during menstruation. The results of this thesis show the multi-factorial impact of dysmenorrhoea and should stimulate further research about the long-term benefits of effective treatment of menstrual pain.

O impacto da flutuação dos hormônios esteróides sobre o curso do Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar durante a vida reprodutiva das mulheres é pouco estudado. Encontramos ainda muitas lacunas no conhecimento quanto a sua apresentação clínica e as suas implicações na evolução do Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar, especialmente sua associação com a ciclagem rápida e o seu valor preditivo para recorrência. Métodos: Mulheres com Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar (tipos I, II ou sem outra especificação) participantes do Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder, com idade entre 16 e 40 anos, foram divididas em dois grupos: com e sem relato de exacerbação pré-menstrual do Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar na avaliação inicial do estudo. Estes grupos foram comparados em relação às características clínicas do Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar, de vida reprodutiva e tratamento na entrada do estudo. Longitudinalmente, foi comparado o tempo de recorrência entre as pacientes que iniciaram o estudo eutímicas utilizando análise de sobrevivência Kaplan Meier e a regressão de Cox. O número de episódios entre as pacientes que foram seguidas por um período de um ano também foi comparado. Resultados: Das 706 mulheres que completaram o questionário, 490 (69,4%) relataram exacerbação pré-menstrual. Na entrada do estudo, quando comparadas ao grupo sem exacerbação pré-menstrual, as mulheres com exacerbação pré-menstrual encontravam-se mais deprimidas, apresentavam mais comorbidades psiquiátricas, sintomas do humor com uso de contraceptivos hormonais, ciclos menstruais irregulares, e estavam recebendo menos tratamento farmacológico. Mulheres com exacerbação pré-menstrual também relataram mais episódios de humor durante o ano anterior e eram mais susceptíveis de apresentar ciclagem rápida neste mesmo período. Na avaliação prospectiva, entre as mulheres que iniciaram o estudo eutímicas (exacerbação pré-menstrual n = 66, sem exacerbação pré-menstrual n = 63), o grupo com exacerbação pré-menstrual teve um tempo de recaída mais rápido ao se incluir estados subsindrômicos associados a recaídas em mania, depressão ou estado misto. O tempo médio de recidiva de 50% da amostra foi de 4,5 meses para as mulheres com a exacerbação pré-menstrual, em comparação com 8,5 meses para as do grupo sem exacerbação pré-menstrual (p = 0,02). A exacerbação prémenstrual também foi um fator significativamente associado a maior gravidade dos sintomas depressivos e de elevação do humor entre as mulheres com um ano de seguimento. Conclusões: As mulheres com Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar que relataram exacerbação pré-menstrual apresentaram uma maior comorbidade psiquiátrica, maior número de episódios do humor no ano anterior e ciclagem rápida. A avaliação prospectiva mostrou uma taxa de recorrência maior, mais estados subsindrômicos e maior número de episódios, mas não ciclagem rápida, nas mulheres do grupo exacerbação pré-menstrual. Nossos resultados sugerem que a exacerbação pré-menstrual pode ser considerada um marcador clínico preditor de um fenótipo clínico mais complexo e associado a uma pior evolução da doença em mulheres em idade reprodutiva com Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar. / The impact of hormonal fluctuation during the menstrual cycle on the course of bipolar disorder in women is poorly studied. We also found many gaps in knowledge about its clinical presentation and its implications for the evolution of Bipolar Disorder, especially the association with rapid cycling and its predictive value for recurrence. Methods: Women with Bipolar Disorder (types I, II or Not Otherwise Specificated ) participants Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder, aged between 16 and 40, were divided into two groups: with and without reports of Premenstrual Exacerbation of Bipolar Disorder in the baseline assessment. These groups were compared to clinical features of BD, reproductive life and treatment at study entry. The time difference of recurrence between groups who were euthymic at the baseline assessment were done with survival analysis Kaplan Meier\'s survival curve and Cox regression models. The number of episodes between the patients who were followed for a period of one year was also compared. Results: Of 706 women who completed the questionnaire, 490 (69.4%) reported premenstrual exacerbation. At study entry, compared to those without premenstrual exacerbation, women with premenstrual exacerbation were more depressed, had more psychiatric comorbidities, mood symptoms with the use of hormonal contraceptives, irregular menstrual cycles, and were receiving less drug treatment. Women with premenstrual exacerbation also reported more mood episodes during the previous year and were more likely to state rapid cycling in the same period. In a prospective evaluation among women who started the study in euthymic mood state (premenstrual exacerbation n = 66, without premenstrual exacerbation n = 63), the premenstrual exacerbation group had a smaller time to relapse when associated subsyndromal mood states to relapse in mania, depression or mixed state. The median time to relapse of 50% of the sample was 4.5 months for women with premenstrual exacerbation, compared with 8.5 months for the group without premenstrual exacerbation (p = 0,02). The premenstrual exacerbation was also a significantly positive factor for a greater severity of depressive symptoms and elevation of mood among women with one year of follow-up. Conclusions: Women with Bipolar Disorder who reported premenstrual exacerbation had a higher psychiatric comorbidity, greater number of episodes of mood in the previous year and rapid cycling. Prospective evaluation showed a higher rate of recurrence, more states and more subsyndromal episodes, but not rapid cycling among women in the premenstrual exacerbation. Our results suggest that premenstrual exacerbation can be considered a clinical marker predictor of a worse clinical phenotype and associated with a worst disease progression in women of reproductive with bipolar affective disorder

Forty-one women filled out surveys about their heterosexual sexual behavior over the course of 30 days. These surveys tracked their menstrual cycles, sexual behavior, sexual desires, and orgasm frequency. Although the sample size was small, a number of borderline statistically significant (p < .10) trends emerged from the analysis: women experienced more copulatory orgasms on average when fertile and women who were not in relationships tended to have more frequent non-copulatory orgasms. Naturally cycling women also experienced significantly more non-copulatory orgasms when fertile. Although no strong conclusions can be drawn from the current sample, the results suggest many avenues for future research. / by Jesse B. Marczyk. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.