Premenstrual syndrome and personality traits: a study on 110 pregnant patients

The prediction of cervical cancer screening beliefs based on big five personality traits

Aim

The present study was designed with the aim to predict Pap smear screening beliefs based on Big Five personality traits.

Design

The present cross-sectional study was conducted with 235 women over 18 years of age in Tehran (Iran) in 2018.

Methods

The data collection tools included the demographic information questionnaire, Pap Smear Belief Questionnaire (PSBQ) and the 10-item measure of the Big Five personality traits.

Results

People with Agreeableness personality trait were more faced with risks and Barriers and factors associated with Pap smear screening beliefs; and those with Conscientiousness personality trait were more faced with risks and Barriers. Results of the present study can help to understand how the personality affects decision-making and interactions. Therefore, consequences of counselling about screening beliefs and behavioural changes can be improved by personality-based education.

The etiology, biology, and evolving pathology of premenstrual syndromes

Menstrually related symptoms and disorders are multidimensional and affect diverse physiologic systems. Elucidation of the pathophysiologic mechanisms of these disorders should allow for a more precise diagnosis, and provide direction for targeted therapeutic interventions. Several biologic mechanisms that underlie menstrually related symptoms have been proposed. They focus mostly on gonadal hormones, their metabolites and interactions with neurotransmitters and neurohormonal systems, such as serotonin, GABA, cholecystokinin, and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Altered responses of these systems to gonadal hormone's fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, as well as an increased sensitivity to changes in gonadal hormones may contribute to menstrually related symptoms in vulnerable women. Disrupted homeostasis and deficient adaptation may be core underlying mechanisms. Future directions for clinically-relevant progress include identification of specific subgroups of menstrually-related syndromes, assessment of the genetic vulnerability and changes in vulnerability along the life cycle, the diversified mechanisms by which vulnerability is translated into pathophysiology and symptoms, the normalization process as well as syndromes-based and etiology-based clinical trials.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorders: a diversified cluster of vulnerability traits to depression

Some biological factors which have been shown to be abnormal in subgroups of women with dysphoric premenstrual syndromes (PMS) have not been limited to the symptomatic late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, but also existed during the non-symptomatic mid-follicular phase of the cycle. Personality, cognitive functions, alpha 2 and imidazoline binding, sensitivity to inducement of panic attacks, relative hypothyroidism, and some but not all serotonergic functions of women with dysphoric PMS differ from those with no PMS, and also differ during a non-symptomatic phase of the cycle. It is suggested that premenstrual symptoms are an expression of vulnerability traits that might surface in response to a trigger. Such traits are probably diverse, and the nature of the symptoms might depend upon the underlying trait. It is postulated-that some vulnerability traits to specific premenstrual syndromes might also be vulnerability traits to depression or anxiety in general.