The relationship between perimenstrual depressive mood and depressive illness.
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.
Warner
P
P
MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Edinburgh, U.K.
Bancroft
J
J
Dixson
A
A
Hampson
M
M
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