Efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Management on Depression and Irritability of Women with Premenstrual Syndrome: A Short report

premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a psycho-somatic disorder that occurs in luteal phase of menstrual cycle and affects the social and individual behaviour of women. Different methods (medical and psychological) are used in the management of this disorder. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of Cognitive- Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) on the depression and irritability of women with PMS. This semi-experimental study was conducted as a post-test and pre-test whit control groups. Statistical population included women of Rafsanjan city who referred to Nik-Nafs clinic in May 2009. from the women who referred to this clinic, 50 women were selected as available sample and then 24 of them, who acquired the highest score from the questionnaire estimating PMS, were selected as final sample and randomly assigned into two equal groups. Data were gathered by GHQ-28 and questionnaires for estimating PMS Symptoms. The women in the interventional group took part in a 90-minutes training program for 8 weekly sessions. Then, the post–test scores of the two groups were gathered. Data were analyzed by co-variance test and independent t-test using SPSS software. The mean scores of depression and irritability were 24.7 ± 5/6 and 26/6 ± 7.9 respectively. After intervention the scores for depression and irritability were 19/9 ± 7.4 and 20/77 ± 7.3 respectively. These values statistically significant (p= 0.01, p= 0.03). The results of this study showed that CBSM can improve PMS symptoms.