Peter Schmidt

Who they are

The 1998 paper gives the Behavioral Endocrinology Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the US National Institutes of Health, as the first author's affiliation. The institute's own page lists Peter Schmidt, M.D., as chief of the Section on Behavioral Endocrinology.

This page records only what the papers and their published records state. Biography beyond the cited work is not given here.

Key papers

Differential behavioral effects of gonadal steroids in women with and in those without premenstrual syndrome (1998), with Nieman, Danaceau, Adams and Rubinow. The team began from the observation that symptoms of premenstrual syndrome improve when ovarian function is suppressed, even though these women show no sign of ovarian dysfunction. In 20 women with the syndrome, they compared ovarian suppression using leuprolide with a placebo. Symptoms fell in the 10 women given leuprolide compared with the 10 given placebo. Ten women whose symptoms improved were then given estradiol and progesterone, each for four weeks, in a double-blind crossover design while suppression continued, and their symptoms came back. Fifteen women without the syndrome who received the same regimen showed no change in mood, and nor did 5 women with the syndrome given placebo hormone. The authors concluded that in women with premenstrual syndrome, the occurrence of symptoms represents an abnormal response to normal hormonal changes.

Key ideas

The study supports a biological account of premenstrual syndrome in the women who have it: the hormones are normal, the response to them is not. It sits alongside evidence that expectation raises reported premenstrual symptoms, and community studies in which stress and health predict daily mood better than cycle phase. Those findings describe different groups and do not cancel each other out. The study describes a research protocol, not a treatment for anyone to seek.

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