A meta-analysis revealed that psychological treatments may be beneficial in alleviating symptoms of dysmenorrhea. Researchers sought to investigate the effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing the severity of menstrual-related pelvic pain and its interference.

For relevant literature searches, databases such as PsycINFO, PubMed, CINHAL, and Embase, were explored and 22 studies were incorporated. Of these, 21 investigated betterment within the same group (within-group analysis), and 14 estimated betterment between different groups (between-group analysis). Random-effects meta-analyses were executed on pain intensity and interference, with average effect sizes computed utilizing Hedges's g.

In the within-group analyses, it was observed that pain severity and interference declined at post-treatment (g = 0.986 and 0.949, respectively) and the first follow-up (g = 1.239 and 0.842, respectively). In the between-group analyses, pain severity reduced at post-treatment (g = 0.909), and both pain severity and interference decreased at the first follow-up (g =  0.964 and 0.884, respectively) in comparison with the control groups.

Psychological treatments were promising in addressing dysmenorrhea, although the overall findings were limited by the suboptimal research methods employed in the studies incorporated and the significant heterogeneity among them. To establish the clinical usefulness of psychological interventions to ameliorate dysmenorrhea, further well-designed research is warranted.