Changes in premenstrual symptoms and irrational thinking following cognitive-behavioral coping skills training.
Women reporting severe premenstrual symptoms were allocated nonrandomly to a cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatment (n = 13), a nonspecific treatment (n = 12), or a waiting-list group (n = 12). Repeated measures analyses of variance showed that, compared with control subjects, the coping skills group reported significant reductions in premenstrual symptomatology and irrational thinking at posttreatment and at 9-month follow-up. There were no significant differences between the waiting-list and control intervention groups at any time of testing. It was suggested that the increased irrationality reported at pretreatment should be viewed not as a "cause" of premenstrual problems but as a product of the stresses experienced in the premenstruum phase. The findings of this study indicated that cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatments can reduce the negative effects of premenstrual symptoms and that those reductions can be maintained over time.
Kirkby
R J
RJ
School of Behavioural Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013850:Thinking