---
title: Do women with PMS respond to stress and emotions differently than other women?
description: Yes. Women with PMS had higher negative emotions, lower positive emotions, and stronger physical stress responses than women without PMS. These differences pe
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/stress-reactivity-and-emotion-in-premenstrual-syndrome-2017/
---

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- Do women with PMS respond to stress and emotions differently than other women?

Case-control study, 2017

# Do women with PMS respond to stress and emotions differently than other women?

Yes. Women with PMS had higher negative emotions, lower positive emotions, and stronger physical stress responses than women without PMS. These differences persisted across both menstrual phases, suggesting they are not tied to cycle timing alone.

 Moderate study design

Women with PMS and women without PMS (sample size not specified)

## What they did

Case-control study comparing women with PMS to women without PMS. Researchers used EEG brain scans, physical stress tests, and emotion rating scales to measure responses during both the luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle.

## What they found

Women with PMS showed higher negative affect and lower positive affect than controls. When stressed, women with PMS had higher alpha brain wave activity and lower respiration rates than controls. These stress response patterns were independent of menstrual cycle phase.

## What it means for you

Women with PMS may have an ongoing difference in how they handle stress and manage emotions, rather than a purely cycle-dependent problem. The main limitation is that the abstract does not report sample size, so we cannot tell how large or representative the study was.

## About the study

Original title Stress reactivity and emotion in premenstrual syndrome Authors Liu Q, Wang Y, van Heck CH et al. Journal Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment Year 2017 Study design Case-control study What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.2147/ndt.s132001](https://doi.org/10.2147/ndt.s132001)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)

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