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Premenstrual syndrome

from Medical topics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2014

By
Jane M. Ussher
Edited by
Susan Ayers ,
Andrew Baum ,
Chris McManus ,
Stanton Newman ,
Kenneth Wallston ,
John Weinman  and
Robert West
Jane M. Ussher
Affiliation:
University of Western Sydney
Susan Ayers
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
Andrew Baum
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Chris McManus
Affiliation:
St Mary's Hospital Medical School
Stanton Newman
Affiliation:
University College and Middlesex School of Medicine
Kenneth Wallston
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
John Weinman
Affiliation:
United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's
Robert West
Affiliation:
St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London
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Summary

Premenstrual distress is now widely recognized to be a major social and health problem, with epidemiological surveys estimating that 95% of women experience physical and psychological changes premenstrually. Up to 40% experience moderate distress, categorized by clinicians and researchers as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) and 11–13% experience severe distress and disruption to their lives, categorized as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) (Steiner & Born, 2000). However, ever since discussions of premenstrual distress first appeared contemporaneously in the medical and psychoanalytic literature in 1931, this has been a research field dogged by controversy and disagreement.

Initially described as ‘premenstrual tension’, and attributed to either hormonal imbalances (Frank, 1931), or to intrapsychic conflict exacerbated by women's social role (Horney, 1931), it was renamed ‘Premenstrual Syndrome’ in 1953, ‘Late Luteal Phase Dysphoric disorder in the DSM III-R and ‘Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder’ in the DSM-IV. Regardless of the diagnostic classification adopted, the divide between biomedical and psychological explanations continues to this day, with a range of competing theories associating PMS with a single causal factor. Biological theories of PMS can be divided into six categories: gonadal steroids and gonadoptrophins; neurovegetive signs (sleep, appetite changes); neuroendocrine factors; serotonin and other neurotransmitters; β-endorphin; and other potential substrates (including prostaglandins, vitamins, electrolytes and CO2) (Parry, 1994, p.47). The psychosocial theories include: personality; cognitions associated with femininity and menstruation; the influence of stress and life events; and propensity for psychological illness (Walker, 1997).

Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine , pp. 830 - 832
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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