Cognitive changes during the menstrual cycle.

A predominantly non-student group of sixty-five women volunteers, screened for medication use, prospectively completed the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) and the Temporal Disorganization Scale (TDS) weekly for one month along with a daily calendar of menstrual status. Data analysis revealed that TDS, concentration disturbances, negative affect, pain and water retention were rated as higher premenstrually and menstrually. Women dichotomized into groups based on high and low premenstrual TDS scores demonstrated different symptom patterns across the menstrual cycle. For the high premenstrual TDS group, concentration, behavioral change, negative affect and pain were all rated highest premenstrually; for the low premenstrual TDS and group the TDS score was rated highest menstrually. The relevance of these findings to literature reports of associations between psychopathology and menstrual cycle phase are discussed.