Are the most bothersome premenstrual symptoms physical or emotional?

Abstract Premenstrual Tension Syndrome (PMTS) is often described in physical terms, yet many women say that the hardest part of the premenstrual phase is what happens in the mind rather than in the body. This pilot study was carried out to understand the pattern and severity of PMTS symptoms in a community sample of women and to identify the psychological variables that deserve closest attention in a larger main study. Using a descriptive exploratory design, 64 women aged 21 to 45 years (34 married, 30 unmarried) were recruited through convenience sampling. Participants completed a sociodemographic sheet, the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales–21, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, married participants also completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Psychological symptoms were reported at clearly higher levels than somatic complaints, and stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms emerged as the most dominant premenstrual experiences. Married women reported significantly higher psychological distress and greater difficulty regulating their emotions than unmarried women, while the two groups did not differ meaningfully on physical symptoms. Among married women, poorer marital adjustment and greater emotion regulation difficulties were significantly associated with higher distress. The findings suggest that PMTS is not merely a physiological condition, it is closely tied to emotional and stress-related processes, and it appears to weigh more heavily within particular social contexts such as marriage. These results led to the selection of five psychological variables for the main investigation; stress, depression, anxiety, emotional regulation, and marital adjustment. Keywords: Premenstrual tension syndrome, stress, anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, marital adjustment, married women, pilot study.

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