Case-control study, 1990
Do women with menstrual-related mood disorders perceive life events differently during their cycle?
Women with menstrual mood disorders reported significantly more negative events and experienced more distress from the same events during the premenstrual phase. This suggests perception changes with cycle timing.
What they did
They had 40 women with confirmed menstrual-related mood disorder and 20 control women report on daily life events and how distressed or pleased they felt about them during the follicular and late-luteal phases of their cycle.
What they found
The patient group reported significantly more negative life events than control subjects. The same events caused significantly more distress to the patient group when they occurred in the premenstrual phase than when they occurred in the post-menstrual phase.
What it means for you
How women perceive and respond emotionally to life events may change across their menstrual cycle, and may be part of why some women develop menstrual mood disorders. Women may not experience more bad things, but they may feel worse about the same events at certain cycle times. This is observational research, so causation is unclear.
40
women with mood disorder
20
control women
2
cycle phases tested
About the study
- Original title
- State-dependent alterations in the perception of life events in menstrual-related mood disorders
- Authors
- Schmidt PJ, Grover GN, Hoban MC et al.
- Journal
- The American journal of psychiatry
- Year
- 1990
- Study design
- Case-control study
- Participants
- 40
- What was tested
- None; observational study across cycle phases
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1176/ajp.147.2.230
Topics
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