Saturday Seminar - “Women’s Problems” and Neurodivergence

• Saturday 12th July 
• Online  
• 17:55 Seminar Commences 
• 19:00 End 
• 'Pay What You Can' donation concept 

What many of our clients experience every month is not ‘normal’ – it’s often absolute hell.

Unbearable pain; life-limiting pain; serious physical and emotional distress.

And it’s not ‘normal’, it’s undiagnosed and/or untreated serious hormone-related health issues like endometriosis, adenomyosis, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), and post-partum depression (PND).

Some facts about these so-called “women’s problems”:

• Current diagnosis times for endometriosis in England and Scotland have risen to 8 years and 10 months

• Women with PMDD waited an average of 12 years and saw an average of six different medical providers before receiving an accurate diagnosis
• One study found that in female suicide attempters, the prevalence of PMDD was 23%
  (Ducasse et al., 2016)

We also need to understand that all these serious hormone-related health issues seem to affect neurodivergent (ND) women to an even greater degree than the neurotypical population. For example,

• 21% of autistic women compared to 3% non-autistic women have PMDD
  (Lever & Gertz, 2016)
• 6% of ADHD women in one study were diagnosed with post-partum depression which is much higher that the prevalence in non-ADHD women (Dorani et al., 2021)

As psychotherapists, counsellors and health practitioners, how can we help clients who may be discounting their own experience after battling years of medical gaslighting and stigma? Clients who show up with depression, anxiety, hopelessness, anger, and may not even mention their ‘women’s problems” to us?

Join me for an hour online Saturday July 12^th at 6pm to start addressing these questions. It’s time to get angry; it’s time to advocate. Our clients our waiting for help.

Sarah Demaree, PTSTA (P)
Sarah is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer based in central London. In her TA teaching work, her recent focus has been on neuroscience, neurodivergence and relationships. She also has specialist training in working with eating disorders, particularly overeating and binge eating, and is keenly interested in creating greater understanding of the interaction of hormones, inflammation, and neurodivergence and their impact on women’s mental health.

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