The reporting of premenstrual symptoms and treatments—differences between anxiety patients and non-patients

Abstract

Women's self-reporting of menstrual and premenstrual symptoms, attitudes to menstruation, locus of control and treatment effectiveness were explored in two groups of women aged between 19 and 42 years. The two groups - 55 women patients receiving treatment for general anxiety symptoms and 40 non-patients - were not significantly different with regard to the reported incidence of the premenstrual syndrome and the reporting of specific symptoms, though patients reported experiencing more symptoms in total premenstrually than non-patients. Patients had higher ‘powerful others’ and ‘chance’ locus of control scores than non-patients, but the groups did not differ with respect to internal locus of control scores. Differences between patients and non-patients in their attitudes to menstruation were related to their different locus of control attributes. So the difference between patients and non-patients lies in their locus of control and attitudes to menstruation, rather than in the severity of symptoms or in the treatments used. These results are discussed with reference to a process model of the premenstrual syndrome which incorporates biological, psychological and social factors.