Case report, 1989
Can a combination of behavioral treatments help severe premenstrual syndrome?
Yes. One woman receiving behavioral therapy reported significantly less distress from PMS and missed less work, with improvements lasting nine months.
What they did
Researchers treated one 36-year-old woman with severe PMS using a combined approach. Treatment included relaxation training, stress inoculation training, assertiveness training, marital therapy, and prescribed exercise over 9 weeks.
What they found
After 9 weeks of treatment the woman reported significantly less premenstrual distress and less sick leave each month. These improvements continued at the 3 month and 9 month follow-up visits.
What it means for you
This suggests a combined behavioral approach may help some women with severe PMS. The limit is that this is one case without a control group, so we cannot know if the improvement was from the treatment or other factors.
9 weeks
treatment duration
3 months
first follow-up
9 months
second follow-up
About the study
- Original title
- Multi-component behavioral treatment of premenstrual syndrome: a case report
- Authors
- Kuczmierczyk AR
- Journal
- Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry
- Year
- 1989
- Study design
- Case report
- What was tested
- Multi-component behavioral treatment: relaxation, stress inoculation, assertiveness training, marital therapy, and exercise.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0005-7916(89)90028-1