“I can’t completely run free”: exploring menstruality for female clients working with male psychotherapists

Dr Letticia Banton has published new research in the international journal Counselling Psychology Quarterly. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the paper explores female clients’ experiences of their menstrual cycles within psychotherapy with male therapists, examining how embodied and cyclical experiences may enter the therapeutic relationship and shape women’s psychological experience.

Key Information

Creators

Dr Letticia Baron

Editors

Counselling Psychology Quarterly

Date

15 October 2026

Subjects

Gender, Phenomenology

Extract

Dr Letticia Banton has published new research in the international journal Counselling Psychology Quarterly. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the paper explores female clients’ experiences of their menstrual cycles within psychotherapy with male therapists, examining how embodied and cyclical experiences may enter the therapeutic relationship and shape women’s psychological experience.

Little is known about how psychotherapy can support women across their menstrual cycle, as this topic remains largely absent from theory, research, and practice. The existing literature illuminates why, demonstrating how predominantly male-authored knowledge has historically marginalised and psychopathologised menstruation in Western society. To centre female voices, this study uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, to examine how women experience their menstrual cycle during psychotherapy with a male therapist.