ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how and why the sociology of science literature constructed Late Luteal Phase Dysphoric Disorder (LLPDD) as a scientific artifact, and shows how and why debate over the scientific existence of a purely physical disorder (PMS)-related psychiatric diagnosis was highly contested. In the "Science Domain/' LLPDD is an occasion for contesting the control and ownership of the "scientific truth" or "reality" about PMS. Debates among scientists about the truth and validity of PMS and LLPDD were important factors in explaining why the LLPDD controversy proceeded as it did in the scientific community. The nature and content of pre-1980s PMS research—and those who carried it out—are important parts of the developing story of LLPDD. Scientific, medical, and popular reports of scientific and methodological difficulties in defining and studying PMS did play an important role in the development of LLPDD. Proinclusion advocates also identified as political the debates over the "facts" of PMS and LLPDD.
