Psychological aspects of premenstrual symptoms

Questionnaire Studies of Paramenstrual Symptoms

“…As Hart et al elegantly demonstrated, the failure of retrospective reports in the MDQ to correlate with concurrent reports from a subsequent cycle simply reflects variations in women's experiences from month to month. Indeed, most clinicians emphasize that PMS is defined not so much by the specific symptoms mentioned earlier, nor necessarily by their severity, but by their regular occurrence from month to month (see Goudsmit, 1983). Slade and Jenner (1980) recommended that the MDQ be modified by asking subjects to report the symptoms for a typical cycle rather than the most recent cycle.…”

“…The premenstrual tension syndrome may seriously interfere with work and social activities and can be incapacitating" (p. 62). More recently, Goudsmit (1983) suggested that it was "useful to differentiate between cyclical changes which are mild and do not cause distress and moderate or severe changes which interfere to an unacceptable degree with the woman's everyday life" (p. 23; see also Butt, 1988). Similarly, Brooks-Gunn (1986) claimed that many women who identified themselves as having PMS were "better defined as having symptoms, not a syndrome" (p. 386), and that the etiology of premenstrual syndrome and of premenstrual symptoms might be quite different.…”