The effectiveness of meta-cognitive therapy on anxiety sensitivity, psychological distress and pain indicators in female students with premenstrual syndrome

Premenstrual syndrome is one of the most common problems of women of reproductive age, which has negative effects on their personal, social and academic health. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of metacognitive therapy on anxiety sensitivity, psychological distress and pain indices in premenstrual syndrome.

This study was a quasi-experimental with pretest, posttest and control group with two months follow-up. The statistical population included all the female students with premenstrual syndrome in the Islamic Azad University of Kermanshah during the year2021,from which 30 people were selected using the available method and based on the Fleiss equation and were assigned to two groups. Metacognitive therapy was applied to the subjects in the experimental group during10weekly sessions and each session lasted 90 minutes, but the control group did not receive therapeutic intervention. For data collection, premenstrual symptoms screening tool Steiner et al, psychological distress questionnaire Loibond and Loibund, anxiety sensitivity questionnaire Floyd et al, pain questionnaire McGill, and pain acceptance McCracken et al, were used. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, analysis of variance with repeated measurements and SPSS-26 statistical software.

The results showed that anxiety sensitivity(F=17.75, P=0.005 and η=0.61), pain intensity(F=6.18, P=0.009 and η=0.54), pain acceptance(F=10.70, P=0.014 and η=0.62) and psychological distress(F=43.45, P=0.001 and η=0.60 in the experimental group compared to the control group significantly decreased and these positive effects remained stable during the two-month follow-up period.

Metacognitive therapy is effective in improving pain indicators and reducing anxiety sensitivity and psychological distress in premenstrual syndrome, and this program can be recommended as a useful treatment to trauma and pain clinics.