title: [Premenstrual symptomatology, somatization and physical anhedonia].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physical (headache, abdominal pain, e.g.), emotional (irritability, diminution of self-esteem, e.g.) and/or behavioral disturbances (fatigue, decrease of libido, e.g.) appear frequently during the premenstrual phase of menstrual cycles. Of moderate to severe intensity, these varied symptoms sometimes hinder the usual personal, social and/or professional functioning by generating significant suffering. Thus, premenstrual syndrome (PS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PDD) are closely related to depressive disorders in many prior studies. In spite of solid links associating depression with premenstrual disorders in the literature, the psychological dimension of the premenstrual symptomatology still remains underestimated.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to examine the nature of possible relationships between a moderate premenstrual symptomatology and different modes of information processing with physical and emotional stimuli, such as somatization and physical anhedonia, well-known symptoms of depressive disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and five students in psychology from the François Rabelais university (France), aged between 18 to 50 years old (M=20.98, SD=3.43), were invited to fill in French versions of the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire [25] (Moos, 1991), the somatization subscale of the Symptom Check-List 90 [26] (Derogatis & Cleary, 1977), and the Physical Anhedonia Scale [28] (Chapman et al., 1976). Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated and a multiple regression analysis was conducted with Statistica software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Main results reveal that premenstrual symptomatology is positively related to somatization (r=0.58; P<0.001) and negatively to physical anhedonia (r=-0.27; P<0.05). Physical anhedonia (β=-0.20; P<0.05) and somatization (β=0.55; P<0.001) may take part in the appearance of a premenstrual symptomatology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results allow us to enrich our knowledge on the origin and the nature of the premenstrual symptomatology, which would be physiological, psychological and social, in order to adapt and widen the therapeutic options by proposing, in parallel with the specific medical treatments, psychological interventions based on cognitive and behavioral techniques aiming a decentralization and a restructuration of the physical symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Département de psychologie, UFR arts et sciences humaines, université François-Rabelais, EA2114 « psychologie des âges de la vie », 3, rue des Tanneurs, 37041 Tours cedex 1, France. Electronic address: morgiane.bridou@etu.univ-tours.fr.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bridou
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aguerre
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anhédonie physique; Dimension psychologique; Physical anhedonia; Premenstrual symptomatology; Psychological dimension; Somatisation; Somatization; Symptomatologie prémenstruelle