Treatment of premenstrual dysphoric symptoms in depressed women.

Although research has established a strong association between premenstrual dysphoric symptoms and depression, there is little data on the effect of antidepressents on premenstrual symptoms. This study compared the efficacy of three treatments--imipramine, phenelzine, and placebo--on the premenstrual symptoms of women with atypical depression who had responded to treatment for their depressive symptoms. The Premenstrual Assessment Form (PAF) was used to rate the type and degree of premenstrual symptomatology. After 12 weeks, at least two-thirds of the women on active medication showed improvement on most measures of premenstrual symptoms to the degree that they had essentially no premenstrual problems after treatment. By comparison, only half of a group of women who had responded to placebo treatment of 6 weeks duration showed such improvement.