Psychosomatic Medicine Tips for Better Browsing
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BENEDEK, T.
Right arrow Articles by RUBENSTEIN, B. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by BENEDEK, T.
Right arrow Articles by RUBENSTEIN, B. B.

Psychosomatic Medicine 1:461-485 (1939)
© 1939 American Psychosomatic Society

The Correlations Between Ovarian Activity and Psychodynamic Processes: II. The Menstrual Phase

THERESE BENEDEK M.D.1 and BORIS B. RUBENSTEIN M.D., Ph.D.1

1 Institute for Psychoanalysis, Chicago, Illinois and the Brush Foundation and Department of Gynecology, Western Reserve University. Dr. Rubenstein is a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation

We have presented and discussed a selection of premenstrual-menstrual phases of 125 cycles of 15 patients. Careful study of vaginal smears and basal body temperatures on the one hand, and of psychoanalytic records on the other hand confirm the correlations inferred in Part I of this publication.

The presence of estrone (cornification in the vaginal smears) corresponds to the presence of active heterosexual libido.

The presence of progesterone (desquamation, aggregation, folding, secretion in the vaginal smears) corresponds to a passive, receptive instinctual tendency.

Since the premenstrual-menstrual phase of the cycle is one of low hormone production, certain other characteristics appeared, as summarized in the following table which is self-explanatory in the light of the material presented.

In addition to confirming the correlations, we have described and discussed the psychological concomitants of regression in hormone production.

The data also suggest the possibility that psychological factors influenced the gonad function. In this phase of the cycle, this may account for the occasional maintenance of progesterone production.

During the late premenstrual-menstrual phase of the sex cycle, emotional reactions are more intense and complex than can be explained on the basis of the then existing hormone production. After the menstrual flow is established, there is an emotional relaxation which again corresponds to the low hormone production characteristic for this period.

Note:

This work was in part supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to the Brush Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch Gen PsychiatryHome page
C. M. Meston and P. F. Frohlich
The Neurobiology of Sexual Function
Arch Gen Psychiatry, November 1, 2000; 57(11): 1012 - 1030.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1939 by the American Psychosomatic Society