Premenstrual complaints: an idiosyncratic syndrome

The two issues of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptom heterogeneity and symptom severity are addressed in an examination of the idiosyncratic nature of premenstrual complaints. Analyses of PMS symptoms reported during the first assessment month by a group of treatment-seeking women revealed that when presented with a prepared list of symptoms (Menstrual Distress Questionnaire), they select many more symptoms than when self-reporting their complaints in ranked order of severity. In this study of a sample of 98 women, most of the women reported only four rank-ordered symptoms. Symptom profiles from five symptom categories were constructed for each of the women and from a possible 86 different profiles 84 were discovered. Of these, psychological profiles dominated the total reports. These findings, together with results of previous research, lead to two conclusions. First, that PMS, though multidimensional, may be defined for each woman by a limited number of symptoms; and second, that PMS is highly idiosyncratic in nature.