Psychological aspects of premenstrual syndrome. II: Utility of standardized measures.

Depressed mood is a salient feature of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). Fourteen women with prospectively documented PMS and ten without PMS completed the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Zung Self-Rating Scale for Depression (Zung-D) during the follicular and late luteal phases of two consecutive menstrual cycles. The short form of the BDI assesses the more cognitive symptoms of depression, while the Zung-D identifies primarily vegetative symptoms. The short form of the BDI was sensitive to cyclic changes in the PMS women, while the Zung-D was not. The BDI items uniquely endorsed by the PMS women during the late luteal phase were pessimism, sense of failure, dissatisfaction, guilt, self-dislike, and indecision. The premenstrual dysphoria experienced by PMS women thus appears to be more cognitive than vegetative in nature. Finally, differential utility of standardized mood measures to detect premenstrual depression is suggested. The BDI proved to be the more sensitive measure.