Natalie Ryan Hebert is a Rapid Transformational Therapy™ (RTT™) practitioner and Certified Stress Coach who specialises in helping women overcome premenstrual mood issues. Originally from Australia, she now lives in Copenhagen with her husband and four children and works with clients all over the world via Zoom.
In this incredibly inspiring interview, Natalie shares her remarkable experience of how RTT helped her overcome the debilitating condition of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder or PMDD, which affects 1 in 20 women and has been linked to a high risk of suicide amongst sufferers.
Natalie revealed that “Because it is not really understood, there is no real treatment… Many women opt for a full hysterectomy as they simply can’t bear the symptoms anymore and the destructive impact it can have on relationships, career and motherhood.”
Find out how Natalie transformed her life and recovered from PMDD and why she says “What I discovered is something no doctor could have told me…”
Please can you briefly summarise your life before Rapid Transformational Therapy™ (RTT™), what were your biggest challenges?
I have always been a confident, positive and happy person – except on the days that I was everything but.
What no one knew, aside from those very close to me, is that for a few days every month I was struggling with debilitating mood swings that would plunge me into deep sadness, anger and worthlessness, brought on by the premenstrual hormonal shift. This had been going on for over a decade. I knew what I was experiencing was not just garden-variety PMS.
I tentatively shared what was happening in one of my mothers’ groups and no one could relate. I realised then that something was quite wrong. Did I have a personality disorder? Was I bipolar? After going down the Google rabbit hole, I eventually discovered a little-known disorder known as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder or PMDD.
These are some of the most common symptoms of PMDD and pertain to the week leading up to menstruation:
- Mood swings
- Irritability or anger or increased interpersonal conflicts
- Depressed mood, feelings of hopelessness, or self-deprecating thoughts
- Anxiety, tension, and/or feelings of being on edge
- Decreased interest in usual activities
- Difficulty concentrating
- Marked lack of energy
- Hypersomnia or insomnia
- A sense of being overwhelmed or out of control
PMDD affects one in twenty women and of those, it is believed between 15% and 30% attempt suicide. I saw my GP and was given the diagnosis, along with a prescription for Zoloft which I was instructed to take for the 14 days leading up to my period.
Can you tell us a little more about your experience with PMDD?
The best way I can describe it is that it feels like one is possessed by a dark, depressed spirit. It builds like a tsunami and comes crashing down, usually in a dramatic, irrational, damaging outburst, which is then followed by feelings of guilt and worthlessness.
The anger and sadness feels absolutely justified at the time, it is only a few days later that you realise how “crazy” you’ve been. I used to feel completely flooded by it, as if my blood had turned to tears. Because it completely hijacks your mind, it warps the way you see things. It is like the emotional pain inside of you wants to prove itself to be true and will twist whatever it can to make it fit. For example, if your husband was held back at work, you might think “Oh that must be because he doesn’t want to spend time with me.” If the kids left the kitchen in a mess, you might think “Oh that’s because nobody respects me.”
Because PMDD is not really understood, there is no treatment for it other than experimenting with different types of birth control or antidepressants, which for many, make no difference and have unappealing side-effects like loss of libido and insomnia. Many women opt for a full hysterectomy as they simply can’t bear the symptoms anymore and the destructive impact it can have on relationships, career and motherhood.
How did this impact your life?
It was impacting my marriage each month in a way I was not willing to accept. My first marriage was damaged irreparably by it – back then I didn’t know what was going on. I was determined this time not to damage my otherwise intimate, beautiful, loving respectful, passionate marriage. One day I decided that I simply must master this PMDD thing. It may not be my fault I had it, but it was my responsibility to master it. The most powerful words I ever spoke to myself while looking in the mirror were these: “No one is coming to save you Natalie. It is going to have to be you”.
How did you discover Rapid Transformational Therapy™ (RTT™)? Why did you decide to try it?
Not long after I made that commitment to myself, I saw Marisa Peer on a YouTube ad. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. As Marisa started speaking about the power of our mind, I was enthralled and fascinated. I already had a psychology degree and was working as a stress coach, but what Marisa had to say was like a light turned on. Part of Marisa’s genius is that she makes complex principles so simple and obvious that you almost feel like you’ve known it all along.
I watched everything I could from Marisa. I did her online group RTT module “Ultimate Confidence” and felt a shift immediately. I felt in my heart I was born to do what she does, like this is what my life had been leading up to. I made the decision to train with her in RTT.
What did you most want to achieve from RTT?
The funny thing is, I didn’t train in RTT thinking it would help me with premenstrual dysphoria. I just wanted to do what Marisa does, so I could help others. The typical ‘wounded healer’ I was! Little did I realise Rapid Transformational Therapy would transform me first.
What was your experience of RTT? How many sessions did you have, did you listen to an audio recording and how did you find it?
I did the online sessions contained in the course. I listened to the ‘I Am Enough’ recording which I could feel changing my brain every time the suggestions were spoken. It was renewing my mind and old outdated, negative beliefs were falling away like an old snake skin.
How has your life changed? How does this relate to what you most wanted?
I can’t remember exactly how many weeks into the training it was when I realised I hadn’t had any PMDD symptoms. At first I thought it was just a lucky month. My period had arrived without the usual premenstrual emotional chaos. I was positive, content and calm, my usual confident, happy self. The next month, the same. And the month after that. And the month after that!
It has now been over two years since I have had any PMDD symptoms and I have RTT to thank for much of that.
Worthlessness has been replaced with a deep sense of self-worth and enoughness.. Insecurity in my relationship has been filled with the greatest security of all – trust in myself and my ability to deal with whatever life brings and an unshakeable knowing that I am enough. Rapid Transformational Therapy gave me the power to transform myself.
How did this help? How do you feel now as a result of RTT?
What I discovered is something no doctor could have told me. What I now believe is that the hormonal shift in women with PMDD works a bit like truth-serum or a magnifying glass, putting one in touch with unresolved emotional pain. Another way of thinking about it, is that the hormonal shift creates a “thinning of the veil” which reveals your deepest negative beliefs.
Thanks to Marisa, I now understand that trauma can be macro or micro and that it indeed isn’t what happens to us that hurts us, but what we come to believe about ourselves as a result.
RTT allows you to go back to the root cause and reason for your current issue and reframe it with your adult wisdom and understanding, which instantly changes the belief at a subconscious level. Transform the wound (i.e. change the negative belief) and there is nothing left for the hormonal shift to magnify.
How has your life changed? How does this relate to what you most wanted?
RTT has changed my life in ways that I would need pages to describe fully. PMDD is now something I used to have and I have no fear of it returning, because now I understand what it really was…. My hormones weren’t making me crazy. They were trying to show me where I needed to change.
I now specialise in helping other women to find the same freedom from PMDD and I have witnessed lives transformed. I would go as far as to say that more than a few lives have been saved from suicide. I’ve seen marriages on the edge of divorce blossom again. A few husbands have come to me after seeing the massive positive change in the wives and said “I’ll have what she’s having”! The majority of the women I work with experience the same wonderful results I had which is so incredibly rewarding. I’ve even had two psychiatrists write to me to ask me what I did with their clients, because they cannot believe the transformation. To them it seems miraculous.
RTT has upgraded so many areas of my life. My relationship is better than ever, I’m a more loving, patient, in-tune mum and not only that, my RTT clinic is thriving. I earn more now than I ever did in my corporate jobs and I have full flexibility, allowing me to be there more for my four kids. I feel a sense of deep fulfilment and purpose in my work, helping people transform and find freedom.
How is RTT different from other approaches you have tried?
Nothing I have tried before comes close to RTT.
RTT goes right to the root issue, allowing your brilliant subconscious mind to show you what you need to know to transform. It is your own wisdom that rescues you.
RTT is fast, it is intense, it is a beautiful, transformative experience. It is a complete therapy that gets lasting results.
What has been your biggest impact with RTT? What are you most proud of?
I have worked with almost 300 clients now with all kinds of issues from phobias to smoking to depression to weight loss and there are so many amazing stories of transformation and the ripple effect that has had on their lives. What I am most proud of though is helping other women to be free of PMDD, especially because they have been told there is no cure.
This message from one of my clients is just one of many that I have received over the past two years, which has given me goosebumps:
“We are at Disneyland which I should say this time last year I had an extremely bad episode of PMDD and tried to kill myself and went into a mental hospital, my daughter and husband went on the trip without me. So I’m here on the family trip this year during the part of my cycle I would be at the height of PMDD and I literally feel nothing. Just the best version of myself. I’m on no medication now and I feel like a different person and so happy I’m able to be present this time with my family. Thank-you Natalie, I am so grateful for everything this program has done to change my life.”
Anything else you would like to share?
If you suspect you might have PMDD, the first step is to get a diagnosis from your GP, which will require that you track your symptoms for three months. Feel free to reach out to me if you or someone you love is suffering.
If you’re thinking about having RTT or training to become a therapist, I simply cannot recommend it enough. It will change your life in ways you can’t even imagine now. As Marisa says, your potential expands as you move towards it. I am forever grateful to have been transformed through RTT myself and to now be helping others transform too.
Thank you so much Natalie for sharing your incredible experience with us. It is remarkable to know how powerful RTT is and the difference it is making in people’s lives.
If you have a story to share…
We love to hear your real-life stories of how RTT has impacted you or your clients’ lives. If you would like to share your experience with the wider community, so as many people can benefit as possible, please email hollie.carr@marisapeer.com.
