Cognitive correlates of seasonal, premenstrual, and depressive symptoms

This study examined the relationship between seasonal, premenstrual, and depressive symptoms as well as their cognitive correlates. First, seasonal and premenstrual symptoms were significantly and positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Second, a significant positive relationship was found for seasonal and premenstrual symptoms across the continuum of symptom severity. Third, the correlation between seasonal and premenstrual symptoms lessened when controlling for depression although the correlation remained significant. Moreover, it was found that premenstrual symptoms were positively associated with negative automatic thoughts, negative season-related beliefs, dysfunctional attitudes, rumination, and maladaptive schemas. High seasonality was associated only with more frequent negative automatic thoughts, season-related negative beliefs, and rumination. The results of this study provided evidence for a two-dimensional conceptual model for seasonal, premenstrual, and depressive symptoms. This model consists of separate seasonal and depressive dimensions; but the depressive dimension is made up of menstrual-related and nonseasonal depression-related vulnerabilities.