title: The relationship between perimenstrual depressive mood and depressive illness.
abstract: In a study of 144 women, mainly self-designated PMS sufferers, the premenstrual depression experienced was, apart from its shorter duration, quantitatively and qualitatively similar to major depressive disorder for a substantial proportion of subjects. The associations with previous history of depression were complex: the severity of premenstrual depression was related to previous history of postnatal depression, whereas its duration (i.e., whether it persisted through longer) was related to a history of treatment with antidepressants. Two independent dimensions are proposed. (i) A menstrual cycle-related factor which in vulnerable women can results in severe and disabling premenstrual dysphoria, and which may be aetiologically related to a subgroup of postnatal depression. (ii) In a minority of women a more general propensity for depressive illness evidence as a tendency for any premenstrual depression to be prolonged.
authors.affiliation: MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Edinburgh, U.K.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Warner
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bancroft
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dixson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hampson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics