One year in the life of a woman with premenstrual syndrome: a case study

Over the course of 1 year (13 menstrual cycles), data were collected on a daily basis using Likert-scale ratings of symptom presence and severity, as well as narrative journal entries. The participant was a 37-year-old healthy woman (mean cycle length = 26.7 days, SD +/- 1.8) with prospectively screened well-defined premenstrual syndrome (PMS), not on hormones or other drugs, and without a psychiatric history. Using the autocorrelation function (ACF), there was evidence for a statistically significant predictive cycle-to-cycle symptom pattern (ACF r = .49, p < .05; Bartlett Band range of significance = +/- .13). Cycle-phase-dependent coexistence of symptoms was noted, along with particular narrative themes, most dramatically exemplified by the theme of death. For this subject, the findings provided evidence for predictive symptom patterns and an effect of symptom presence on her interpretation of her environment and herself.