Katharina Dalton

Katharina Dalton (11 November 1916 – 17 September 2004) was a British physician and pioneer in the research of premenstrual stress syndrome. It is said that she coined the term for the syndrome. On September 17, 2004, Dr. Katharina Dalton died in Britain at age 87.

Katharina Dalton began her career studying at the London Foot Hospital as a podiatrist. After her first husband died in World War II, Dalton decided to switch careers in the medical field, and eventually obtained a medical degree at the Royal Free Hospital.

Dr. Dalton became involved in the treatment of PMS in 1948, when, as a pregnant 32-year-old medical student, she realized her monthly migraine headaches had disappeared. Consulting with endocrinologist Dr. Raymond Greene, she concluded that the headaches could be attributed to a deficiency in the hormone progesterone, which drops before menstruation but soars during pregnancy. After further clinical study, Dr. Dalton, along with Greene, published the theory in British medical journals in 1953—first using the term "premenstrual syndrome," or PMS.

Dr. Dalton, who treated numerous women after setting up her own practice, concluded that PMS was a cyclical hormonal illness occurring in the 14 days following ovulation, with the most severe symptoms evident during the final four days before menstruation. In direct conflict with the views of many of her male colleagues, Dr. Dalton said the symptoms were more physical than psychological and included migraine headaches, asthma, epilepsy, skin lesions, irritability, fatigue, and depression.

In addition to her patients, she studied teenage schoolgirls, the mothers of abused children and women confined to prison for serious crimes, including murder. Her research showed that during times of severe PMS, students' academic performance dipped and women were more likely to abuse their children or commit crimes. From historic anecdotes, she even concluded that Queen Victoria suffered from PMS, as indicated by reports of her monthly screaming and throwing objects at her husband, Prince Albert.

She is largely credited with developing the use of menstrual charts for the diagnosis of the disorder, and argued that the timing of PMS in women was associated with higher rates of suicide attempts, alcohol abuse and violent crimes. PMS, Dr. Dalton argued, was brought on primarily by deficiencies of progesterone and could be alleviated with hormone therapy. She also believed that the hormone could be used to ease postnatal depression. But today most experts disagree with those findings and instead rely on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or S.S.R.I.'s, and other medications for the treatment of PMS.

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