THE INFLUENCE OF PREMENSTRUAL-SYNDROME ON RATINGS OF ANXIETY IN WOMENWITH GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER

During the premenstrual and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle, 41 women who had generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) plus premenstrual syndrome (PMS) were assessed with psychiatric rating scales and compar ed with 21 GAD patients without PMS and 19 controls. The latter two gr oups were rated only once, in the typical open-ended manner. Symptoms during both phases of the menstrual cycle were more severe in the GAD + PMS patients than in the controls and were more severe during the pr emenstruum. For the GAD + PMS patients, ratings obtained in the typica l open-ended manner were influenced by how patients felt during the pr emenstruum. Thus, the assessment of women with GAD + PMS may be compli cated by cyclical fluctuations in symptom severity, and ratings obtain ed in the typical manner may be influenced disproportionately by how t hese patients feel premenstrually.