A framework for PMDD

The CYCLES® Framework

A psychological framework developed specifically for PMDD and premenstrual difficulties.

CYCLES® helps you move from the PMDD rollercoaster towards greater steadiness, consistency, and confidence. It is grounded in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and other evidence-based psychological models, and designed to reflect the real complexity of living with PMDD.

PMDD needs a different kind of approach

If you live with PMDD, you know how quickly things can feel out of control at that time of the month. You have a good couple of weeks before it all comes crashing down and you feel like you are back to square one.

It is not a lack of willpower. And it is certainly not your fault.

Generic psychological approaches are not designed for this reality. They often assume you can apply strategies consistently, regardless of where you are in your cycle. PMDD isn't something you can simply think your way out of.

The CYCLES® Framework starts from a different place. It recognises that some aspects of PMDD are outside your control, while others are areas where you can actively respond in ways that reduce intensity and build steadiness over time.

It's about responding differently at different points in the cycle, and developing tools that help you build steadiness and self-trust over time.

From rollercoaster to upward spiral

You know that familiar rollercoaster: the extreme ups and downs, the sense of dreading every month as it rolls round again. You go from survival mode to catch-up mode, scrambling to do damage control before things start to fall apart again.

When this happens month after month, you feel exhausted and start to lose hope.

With the right kind of support, this pattern can start to shift.

As you gain clarity on your cycle and bring in simple practices that help you work with your body rather than against it, things begin to feel steadier. As you develop ways of responding that help you regulate and reset, difficult phases become easier to move through.

Over time, it can start to feel more like an upward spiral. Less about extreme ups and downs, and more about manageable, predictable cyclical shifts, where you feel more balanced, more grounded, and better able to trust yourself again.

The rollercoaster

The upward spiral

What people often notice when working with the CYCLES® Framework

People who work with the CYCLES® Framework often find they are better able to:

manage PMDD symptoms with less intensity and disruption
recover more quickly when difficult phases occur
anticipate cyclical patterns and plan with greater confidence
trust themselves and their decisions across the cycle
respond more steadily, with less fallout and self-blame

Six interlinked areas

The CYCLES® framework

CYCLES® brings together six interlinked areas that tend to need attention when PMDD feels out of control. These aren't steps to complete or stages to move through. They are areas you return to over time, as different parts of the cycle call for different kinds of support.

C

Calm the nervous system

This area focuses on helping the body feel safer and more settled, particularly during more intense phases of the cycle. It includes simple, practical ways of supporting regulation, reducing overwhelm, and creating the conditions for rest and recovery.

Y

Your patterns

This area is about understanding how PMDD shows up for you. It involves noticing recurring emotional, physical, and behavioural patterns across the cycle, including both challenges and strengths, so fewer things come as a surprise and you can work more intentionally with what's available to you at different points.

C

Cope with emotions and stress

This area supports the development of ways to respond to strong emotions and stress that reduce fallout and self-blame. The focus is on moving through difficult moments more steadily, rather than suppressing feelings or being overwhelmed by them.

L

Live with cyclical awareness

This area focuses on planning work, rest, and relationships in ways that reflect how energy, tolerance, and capacity naturally change across the cycle. It supports moving away from boom-and-bust patterns and towards more sustainable rhythms.

E

Engage differently

This area looks at how you relate to your thoughts, expectations, relationships, and yourself. It supports developing less reactive and more supportive ways of engaging, particularly during phases when self-criticism or conflict tends to intensify.

S

Sustain what helps

This area is about keeping what works over time. It involves recognising which strategies, habits, and supports genuinely build steadiness, and which ones quietly undermine it, so change becomes more sustainable rather than effortful.

You are not expected to work on all of these at once.

Different areas come into focus at different times, depending on what feels most pressing or supportive.

The CYCLES® Framework progression

The framework is organised into three stages. Moving through them is optional, and people do so at different paces.

Stage 1 PMDD Roadmap Orientation and understanding

This is the starting point.

You build clarity about what is happening for you and explore what support might be helpful, without pressure to act or commit.

This stage helps answer:

What is going on for me, and what are my options?

Stage 2 CYCLES® for PMDD: Getting Steady Stabilisation and containment

This stage focuses on reducing intensity and helping things feel more manageable.

Before deeper or longer-term work is helpful, most people need things to feel steadier. Getting Steady creates the conditions for later integration, rather than asking you to go deeper before you are resourced.

This stage helps answer:

How do I get through this without everything escalating or falling apart?

Stage 3 CYCLES® for PMDD: Integration Living well with PMDD over time

This stage builds on steadiness and looks at how PMDD fits into the wider picture of your life.

The focus shifts from managing symptoms to shaping work, relationships, identity, and choices in ways that work with your cyclical capacity.

This stage helps answer:

How do I live well with PMDD, rather than constantly working around it?

Not everyone needs or wants to move through all stages.

Why I developed the CYCLES® Framework

I developed the CYCLES® Framework through my clinical work with people living with PMDD, and through living with it myself.

Again and again, I saw people being offered support that assumed stability and consistency at the very times PMDD makes those hardest to access. When strategies didn't hold, people were often left feeling like they had failed, rather than recognising that the approach itself wasn't built for cyclical reality.

CYCLES® was created to meet PMDD where it actually shows up. It brings together evidence-based psychological approaches with a clear understanding of how mood, energy, and tolerance change across the cycle.

Rather than asking you to override or fix those changes, the framework focuses on understanding what's happening, reducing intensity, limiting fallout, and building steadiness over time in ways that are realistic, compassionate, and sustainable.

The CYCLES® Framework

PMDD needs a different kind of approach

From rollercoaster to upward spiral

What people often notice when working with the CYCLES® Framework

The CYCLES® framework

Calm the nervous system

Your patterns

Cope with emotions and stress

Live with cyclical awareness

Engage differently

Sustain what helps

The CYCLES® Framework progression

Why I developed the CYCLES® Framework

How to begin