Twenty women with premenstrual complaints were treated in a double-blind placebo controlled trial during two consecutive menstrual cycles with fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin uptake blocker. A beneficial effect was found on somatic and affective symptoms in both treatment groups, the effect of fluvoxamine being not different from placebo. The results of this study do not support a role for serotonin in menstrually related affective symptoms.

Within the Netherlands, there is a controversy regarding the question to what extent the SCL-90 can be considered an eight-dimensional self-assessment scale for psychopathology. Recently, the Dutch group who introduced the SCL-90 in the Netherlands again defended the premise that the SCL-90 has a structure of eight dimensions, on the basis of LISREL analyses on the SCL-90 scores of a large group of pain patients. In our study, also using the confirmatory factor analytic LISREL model, we investigated to what extent an eight-dimensional structure for the SCL-90 could be found in a large group of psychiatric patients (n = 1219). A parsimonious dimensional structure sufficiently explained our SCL-90 data. A reduced dimensionality was found for the Dutch SCL-90. The differences between the results of our study and the earlier findings of the Dutch promoters of the SCL-90 are mainly due to their accommodating application of the fit criteria.

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Thirty-eight subjects who met criteria for the DSM-III-R diagnosis late luteal phase dysphoric disorder (LLPDD) were compared with 18 controls in 5-HT uptake kinetics of the platelets in the premenstrual (day 26) as well as in the postmenstrual phase (day 4) of the cycle. Furthermore, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) was administered to LLPDD patients and controls in both phases of the cycle, to investigate pituitary sensitivity for serotonin. Plasma samples for the measurement of cortisol and beta-endorphin were taken before and after oral administration of 200 mg 5-HTP, and considered as an index of pituitary-adrenal function. LLPDD was not associated with a lower platelet 5-HT uptake and content in the premenstrual phase of the cycle, compared with the postmenstrual phase. Patients appeared not to be different from controls in 5-HT uptake kinetics of platelets in the premenstrual phase of the cycle. No main differences were observed between LLPDD patients and controls in their ability to respond with secretion of cortisol and beta-endorphin to 5-HTP stimulation, either in the premenstrual, or in the postmenstrual phase. This observation could not be attributed to differences in 5-HTP metabolism. The findings of the present study do not support a specific role for 5-HT in the pathophysiology LLPDD.

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