Randomised trial, 2018
Does mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy reduce premenstrual syndrome symptoms?
Yes. Mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy significantly reduced PMS symptoms immediately after treatment and the improvements lasted at least one month.
What they did
Forty university students with PMS in Iran were randomly assigned to two groups of 20 each. The intervention group received eight 1-hour weekly sessions of mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy. The control group received no treatment. Symptoms were measured before treatment, immediately after, and one month later.
What they found
The therapy group's mean PMS symptom score dropped from 42 before treatment to 27.65 immediately after and 28.15 at one month follow-up. The control group did not improve significantly. The difference between groups was very significant (P < 0.001).
What it means for you
Mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy substantially reduced PMS symptoms over 8 weeks, with benefits lasting at least a month. The study was small and included only university students in Iran, so results may not apply to women in other settings or of other ages.
40
students total (20 per group)
8
weekly therapy sessions
27.65
mean symptom score after treatment (was 42 before)
About the study
- Original title
- The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Premenstrual Syndrome
- Authors
- Saeedeh Askari, Nasser Behroozi, Zahra Abbaspoor
- Journal
- Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal
- Year
- 2018
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- Participants
- 40
- What was tested
- Eight 1-hour weekly sessions of mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.57538
Topics
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