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Symptom Attributions Across the Menstrual Cycle in Women with Panic Disorder

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Abstract

Women with panic disorder are likely to experience greater menstrual-specific symptoms (e.g., headaches, cramps) as well as more panic/anxiety-related symptoms (e.g., dizziness, faintness, chest pain, heart pounding), and may be more likely to experience these symptoms during the premenstrual phase. This study examines the attributions women make about the somatic and affective symptoms they experience during the menstrual cycle. Using a 30-day prospective design, women with and without panic disorder monitored physical and affective symptoms. Participants reported on severity of various symptoms and a primary cause for each symptom (menstrual cycle-related, panic/anxiety related, stress-related, health-related). Women with panic disorder reported more panic attacks during the premenstrual phase compared to other cycle phases. They also reported more severe affective and panic symptoms during the premenstrual phase compared to other phases, but did not significantly differ from the comparison group in menstrual symptom severity across the three cycle phases. Although women with panic disorder attributed more panic/anxiety-related causes for their symptoms across the menstrual cycle, they were able to discriminate between panic/anxiety causes and menstrual cycle-related causes. Women with panic disorder may benefit for therapy that focuses on their exacerbation of panic symptoms during the premenstrual phase.

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Notes

  1. We examined whether participants made different attributions depending on the types of symptoms they experienced. Given that participants differed in the number of symptoms they may have reported, 12 proportional scores were derived from the number of attributions reported divided by the number of symptoms reported for each symptom type across each menstrual cycle phase. The results from the proportional scores mirror the presented results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maine, 376 Little Hall, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Emily A. P. Haigh, Julia R. Craner, Sandra T. Sigmon & Geoffrey L. Thorpe

  2. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Emily A. P. Haigh

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 100A Haggar Hall, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    K. Lira Yoon

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  1. Emily A. P. Haigh
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  2. Julia R. Craner
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  3. Sandra T. Sigmon
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  4. K. Lira Yoon
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  5. Geoffrey L. Thorpe
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Correspondence to Emily A. P. Haigh.

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Haigh, E.A.P., Craner, J.R., Sigmon, S.T. et al. Symptom Attributions Across the Menstrual Cycle in Women with Panic Disorder. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 36, 320–332 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-018-0288-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-018-0288-4

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