Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy with Cognitive Hypnosis on Reducing Depression in Students with Premenstrual Syndrome

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is defined as a set of physical and psychological symptoms occurring during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral therapy and group cognitive hypnotism on decreased depression among female students with PMS.

This clinical trial was conducted on female students of Rasht, Iran in 2017. In total, 30 students with PMS were selected by random sampling and randomly divided into three groups, including two experimental groups and one control group. While eight sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis cognitive therapy were held for the first and second groups, respectively, the third group received no treatment. Data were collected using an eight-item researcher-made PMS questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory in two pretest and posttest stages. In addition, data analysis was carried out using the covariance analysis and Lamtriks post hoc.

In this study, both therapy methods were effective in reducing depression among women with PMS (P<0/001). However, hypnosis had a greater impact on PMS, compared to the other method, showing a significant difference in this regard (P=0.002).

According to the results of the study, the psychological therapies affected PMS among the subjects. It is recommended that these methods be applied more than pharmaceutical methods due to their fewer complications.