Psychological factors influencing the experience of menstrual pain - the role of pain catastrophizing

Abstract

Research on menstrual pain is lacking in the literature in terms of the number of people affected, the amount of time spent suffering, and the consequences. We examined the role of pain catastrophizing in experiencing the subjective extent and frequency of menstrual pain and its perception as a limitation to daily activities. In our study, during personal tests between 2015 and 2018, we collected data from around 1000 healthy women aged 18 to 51 years, predominantly with secondary and higher education, already and still menstruating, mostly living in a large city, mainly in a relationship, perceiving themselves to be in excellent or good health, predominantly not using hormonal contraceptives, mostly having a regular menstrual cycle. We used an open-ended question to measure the extent, frequency, and impact on daily activities of menstrual pain, and used the Pain Catastrophizing Questionnaire. In our own sample, we found that the more the subject "tends" to report pain catastrophizing, the stronger is the menstrual pain she reports, the more often she experiences menstrual pain and says that the pain limits her daily activities. The results showed that it is worth examining the personality characteristics among the factors influencing the extent of menstrual pain; the results can be incorporated into diagnostic and therapeutic work. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(37): 1469-1475.