Study, 1992
Does group behavioral treatment help women with PMS?
Yes. Eighty-three percent of women had either a complete remission or 50% reduction in symptoms one month after the treatment. Improvements were linked to increased exercise.
What they did
Women with confirmed premenstrual syndrome attended five weekly group sessions focused on lifestyle changes in diet, exercise, and stress management. They tracked their symptoms and how well they followed the recommendations every day. Forty-eight women completed the trial, and results were measured one month after the sessions ended.
What they found
Twenty-eight women had a complete remission of symptoms. Twelve more women had at least a 50% reduction in symptoms. Improvements in both physical and emotional symptoms were strongly associated with increases in exercise.
What it means for you
Behavioral treatment focusing on diet, exercise, and stress management may help PMS. However, this was an open trial without a comparison group, so we cannot be fully sure the improvement came from the treatment itself rather than from women paying more attention to their health. Only 48 women were studied.
48
women completed
83%
had symptom improvement
28
had complete remission
About the study
- Original title
- Nonmedical management of late luteal phase dysphoric disorder : a preliminary report
- Authors
- Pearlstein T, Rivera-Tovar A, Frank E et al.
- Journal
- The Journal of psychotherapy practice and research
- Year
- 1992
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 28
- What was tested
- Group behavioral treatment with lifestyle changes in diet, exercise, and stress management
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22700055/
Topics
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