Women with mood disorders and couples conflict: menopause symptom improvement, after group therapy

Abstract

Objective

Although a public health crisis, intimate partner violence (IPV) has been understudied for middle-aged women with mood disorders during their perimenopausal and postmenopausal years. The aims of this study were to examine the relationship between IPV and hot flashes/night sweats (HF/NS) frequency and severity among women with mood disorders and to test whether the effect of cognitive behavioral group therapy on menopausal symptoms differs between those with and without IPV at baseline and post-test.

Methods

Of 59 participants from a mood disorders outpatient clinic enrolled in the parent study, 24 experienced IPV. This study analyzed pretreatment and post-treatment data from the Revised Conflict Tactic Scale – Short Form-2, and HF/NS frequency and severity ratings on the Hot Flash Daily Diary using the McNemar chi-square test.

Results

The presence of any type of violence at pretreatment was significantly (p < 0.01) linked to improvements in HF/NS frequency and severity. Women who showed improvements in negotiation skills had better outcomes in menopausal symptoms. Sexual coercion increased from one to three women.

Conclusions

Negotiation skills may help women with mood disorders to reduce HF/NS frequency and severity. More studies need to be conducted with a special focus on helping women in this population.

摘要

目的: 尽管亲密伴侣暴力(IPV)是一场公共卫生危机, 但对处于围绝经期和绝经后的有情绪障碍的中年妇女的IPV研究不足。此研究为了探讨情绪障碍女性的IPV与潮热/盗汗(HF/NS)频率和严重程度之间的关系, 并测试在基线和测试后, 有IPV和无IPV的女性对绝经症状的团体认知行为治疗效果是否有差异。

方法: 59名来自情绪障碍门诊的参与者中, 24人遭遇了IPV。本研究使用McNemar卡方检验分析了治疗前和治疗后的改良冲突策略量表-简版-2的数据, 以及每日潮热日志中的HF/NS频率和严重程度评级。

结果: 治疗前任何类型暴力行为的存在都与HF/NS频率和严重程度的改善显著相关(p < 0.01)。谈判能力有所提升的女性在绝经症状方面效果更好。性胁迫从一名妇女增加到三名。

结论: 谈判能力可以帮助情绪障碍的女性降低HF/NS的频率和严重程度。需要进行更多的研究来特别关注对这一群体的帮助。

Keywords:

• Menopause
• intimate partner violence
• depression
• bipolar
• cognitive behavioral group therapy
• relationship conflict

Acknowledgements

The authors specially thank Professor Myra Hunter for the use of her treatment protocol.

Potential conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Source of funding

This work was supported by University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center’s Office of Community Impact, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Cleveland, Ohio, USA [Minority Faculty Development Award number P0305]. D.Y.C. is a consultant [American Heart Association grant # 978891 A]. G.K. [NLM R01 Grant].