Premenstrual Disorders

•

around or something. I hope I’m as good a friend to her if she ever

needs me.

The doctor is happy with my report of the month, but he still

wants me to watch what I eat and see Dr. Jill once a month for a

while. I don’t mind because I like learning about myself. I especially

like that Dr. Jill has taught me to stop when I get angry and

RETHINK

This means I:

• R

ecognize my anger.

• Have

mpathy for the other person (try to walk in his or her

shoes sort of).

• T

hink about what I am angry about in a different way. Maybe

I could see something funny or even try to solve the problem

rather than just be angry.

• H

ear the other person; don’t just think about myself, tuning

out everybody else.

• I

ntegrate love and respect. I can tell the person how I feel

about the situation instead of blaming or putting her down.

• N

otice what works for me. How do I control my anger the

best? I think maybe I need space for a little while when I’m

feeling frustrated. But that doesn’t mean I should go over the

whole thing in my mind and work myself up even more; in-

stead, I should just let it go for a while.

• K

eep my focus on the present. This I really need to work on.

I’m always reminding myself and everybody else about old

problems, as if they will make anything better now. I hope

I can continue to do this because I’ve already seen it work

when I try it.

Emily’s change at school may be a shock to some of her friends and

to herself. Sometimes women get so caught up in all that’s going

on in their lives they don’t even see the changes that are affecting

everyone around them.

Emily’s PMDD symptoms are very severe, even though she’s still

only a teenager. Other women experience a definite increase in PMS