Randomised trial, 2026
Does Emotion Efficacy Therapy help women with PMDD?
Yes. The therapy significantly improved emotional balance, reduced negative automatic thoughts, and reduced impulsive behaviors. The benefits lasted through the two-month follow-up.
What they did
30 single women aged 20-40 with PMDD in Isfahan, Iran were randomly assigned to receive eight weekly 90-minute group therapy sessions (n=15) or no treatment (n=15). Emotional balance, automatic thoughts, and impulsive behaviors were measured before treatment, after treatment, and at two-month follow-up.
What they found
The therapy group showed significantly reduced negative automatic thoughts and impulsive behaviors and significantly improved affect balance. Positive affect increased and negative affect decreased significantly. All improvements remained stable at follow-up.
What it means for you
This therapy may help women with PMDD manage emotions and reduce negative thinking patterns. The main limitation is the small sample size and that all participants were single women in one city in Iran, so results may not apply to all women with PMDD.
30
women total, 15 in each group
8
weekly 90-minute therapy sessions
2
months follow-up
About the study
- Original title
- Emotion Efficacy Therapy for Affect Balance, Impulsive Behaviors, and Negative Automatic Thoughts in Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
- Authors
- Fatemeh Eshaghi Hasanabadi, Parinaz Sajjadian
- Journal
- International journal of body, mind and culture
- Year
- 2026
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- Participants
- 15
- What was tested
- Emotion Efficacy Therapy (eight weekly 90-minute group sessions)
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.61838/ijbmc.v13i4.599
Topics
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