A comparative study on the effect of group counseling of stress management skills and vitamin B6 using on symptoms of premenstrual syndrome: A randomized clinical trial

Premenstrual syndrome includes physical, mood and behavior symptoms that repeatedly occurring in the luteal of the menstrual cycle and can lead to lack of adaptation against the husband, mistreatment against the children, family conflict and social relations reduction. The current study investigated the effect of group counseling of stress management skills and vitamin B6 on symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 66 students with PMS in 2016 (Iran). PMS subjects divided into the stress management group, the vitamin B6 group and the control group (n = 22 in each group). The stress managements group trained using a life skill package during 4 sessions (2 hours) per week during the two successive menstrual cycles. The vitamin B6 group received 80 mg of vitamin daily for the last 7 days of the two successive successive cycles. The control group did not receive any interventions. The data were collected using the demographic questionnaire and the premenstrual screening symptoms tools questionnaire (PSST). Two months after the intervention, the intensity of PMS symptoms was significantly reduced in both intervention groups than the control group (P<0.05). No significant difference was found between the stress management and vitamin 6 groups. The present study shows that both the stress management counseling and vitamin B6 can reduce the severity of the PMS symptoms. Given that the non-pharmacological method is free of side effects, the stress management method is recommended for controlling the symptoms of the PMS.