Personality and Psychosocial Factors Affecting Premenstrual Syndrome

Introduction: Physical and psychological symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affect some women experiencing regular menstrual cycles. Symptoms include irritability, depression, anxiety, headache, and breast tenderness/soreness and are presumed to be significantly higher in the late luteal phase than in the follicular phase. Aim of the Study: Is to highlight the personality traits in a sample of women diagnosed with PMS and the degree of perfectionism, and social support system and how those factors are related to psychological symptoms of PMS. Subjects and Methods: Twenty-two female patients suffering from PMS with a mean age of 30.45± 4.97 years and 20 healthy control female volunteers with a mean age of 29.05± 5.23 years matching the patient group regarding age were included in the study. Both groups were subjected to the following: Diagnosis of PMS using semi-structured clinical interview of the DSM-IV-TR, rating the severity of PMS symptoms based on Daily Symptom Reports (DSR), assessment of personality using the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), the degree of perfectionism using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and social support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Results: PMS patient showed significantly higher scores of Harm Avoidance (HA), a subscale of TPQ, higher scores of perfectionism using MPS and lower scores of social support using MSPSS in PMS patients than in control group. Significant correlation was detected between scores of DSR scale and HA subscale of TPQ. Moreover, significant negative correlation was detected between scores of DSR and MSPSS score. Conclusion: PMS patients possess pathological personality traits that had a negative impact on the severity of symptom expression that is to mean, high levels of neuroticism and perfectionism. Moreover, they lack social support, an additional factor that worsen the severity of symptoms of PMS. key words: Premenstrual syndrome, personality traits, perfectionism. Current Psychiatry; Vol. 17, No. 1, 2010: 41-48 Current Psychiatry Vol. 17, No. 1, Jan. 2010 42 symptoms and certain personality traits, such as anxiety and neuroticism, but the relationship is still far from clear. Moreover, in a survey of 249 general practitioners, only about half thought that women reporting premenstrual symptoms could be distinguished by particular personality traits4. Perfectionism (e.g., Interpreting mistakes as failures and having very high standards), have strong associations with psychopathology and distress. It is defined as the overevaluation of, the striving for and achievement of, personally demanding standards. Families in which members are criticized may be weak in support for their members. Perfectionism is triggered when a failure is encountered and when people believe that they are not meeting their own unrealistic standards. Psychological intervention studies for premenstrual symptoms have addressed aspects that could be considered as relating to perfectionism (triggered when a failure is encountered and when people believe that they are not meeting their own unrealistic standards)5. Previous research suggests that the impact may be exacerbated in the context of low levels of social support6_8. Social support in relation to menstrual cycle symptoms has received little attention. Women with premenstrual depression (PMD) sought more social support premenstrually than women without PMD9. Therefore, women who perceive themselves to have lower support levels may be more likely to report more premenstrual symptoms. The purpose of the present study was to highlight the dimensional personality traits in a sample of women diagnosed with PMS as well as assessment of the degree of perfectionism and social support system and how those factors are related to psychological symptoms of PMS. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This study was conducted in the period from the 1st of July 2008 to the 30th of June 2009. It included 22 female patients under the age of 45 years with a mean age of 30.45± 4.97. They attended the outpatient clinic seeking treatment for PMS. In addition, a control group consisted of 20 healthy female volunteers, matching patients in regard to age (29.05± 5.23) were included.