COGNITIVE THERAPY FOR PREMENSTRUAL-SYNDROME - A CONTROLLED TRIAL

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive t herapy (CT) as a psychological treatment for premenstrual syndrome (PM S), by comparison with a waitlist control group. Women meeting selecti on criteria for PMS were randomly allocated to one of two treatment gr oups: (i) an immediate treatment group, who received 12 weekly session s of individual CT; or (ii) a waiting list group who recorded symptoms of PMS for a length of time equivalent to the duration of an individu al treatment in the immediate treatment group. General practitioners a nd gynecologists referred women who were complaining of distressing an d disabling emotional and physical symptoms in the second half of the menstrual cycle, as verified by 2 months of prospective diary recordin g. Assessments of the women's psychological and social functioning wer e made on entry to the study, 2 months later, and at the end of the tr eatment period. This design allows evaluation of the efficacy of CT re lative to any spontaneous remission that may have occurred as a conseq uence of the passage of time, the keeping of menstrual diaries, interv iew, and self-rated assessments. Results indicated that CT was signifi cantly more effective than assignment to the waitlist group. Diary mea sures and self-report questionnaires indicated an almost complete remi ssion of psychological and somatic symptoms and of impairment of funct ioning. It is concluded that CT for PMS is associated with substantial improvements that cannot be attributed to the passage of time or the completion of the diary and other assessments. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scien ce Inc.