--- title: Do women with PMDD who experienced childhood trauma have more trouble recognizing emotions? description: Yes. Women with PMDD who experienced childhood trauma, especially physical or sexual abuse, had significant difficulty recognizing emotions compared to women url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-association-between-childhood-trauma-and-facial-emotion-recognition-in-women-2025/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Do women with PMDD who experienced childhood trauma have more trouble recognizing emotions? Study, 2025 # Do women with PMDD who experienced childhood trauma have more trouble recognizing emotions? Yes. Women with PMDD who experienced childhood trauma, especially physical or sexual abuse, had significant difficulty recognizing emotions compared to women with PMDD who were not traumatized. Moderate study design 40 women with PMDD, ages 18-30 ## What they did Tested 40 women with PMDD using a computer program showing faces with different emotions. Some had experienced childhood trauma, others had not. Researchers measured how well each group recognized anger, fear, happiness, sadness, disgust, and surprise. ## What they found Most women (82.5%) reported experiencing childhood maltreatment. Women with trauma history, especially those abused physically or sexually, had distorted emotion perception. They detected happiness less often and recognized fear and anger faster and at lower intensity than women without trauma. The more abuse a woman reported, the more emotion recognition problems she had. ## What it means for you Childhood trauma appears to worsen emotion recognition difficulties in women with PMDD. This suggests treating trauma may help. The main limitation is the small sample of only 40 women. 40 women with PMDD 82.5% reported childhood maltreatment ## About the study Original title The association between childhood trauma and facial emotion recognition in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder Authors Vardiampasis A, Gramandani C Journal European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists Year 2025 Study design Study What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.577](https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.577) Original abstract Introduction Facial emotion recognition is a fundamental component in social interaction. Facial emotion recognition is disturbed both in women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), and in those with a history of childhood trauma. PMDD affects up to 5% of women of childbearing age, exert influence on women’s recognition of emotions, and on the emotion recognition processing. Women with PMDD are more likely to have a history of childhood trauma. Objectives To explore whether there is a link between a history of trauma and the perception of emotions in women with PMDD. We hypothesize that women with PMDD and a history of childhood trauma will show larger deficits in emotion recognition compared to women with PMDD but without a history of childhood trauma. Methods Data were derived from a sample of forty women diagnosed with PMDD (18-30 y.o., right handed, educational level >9y., regular cycle duration), who have visited Mental Health Centre of Rethymno (participants completed the Premenstrual Syndrome Questionnaire). The participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which measures five types of maltreatment experiences. Three types are related to abuse (physical, sexual and emotional) and two to physical and emotional neglect. The Emotion Recognition Task (ERT) was also administered. ERT is a computer-generated paradigm for measuring the recognition of six basic facial emotional expressions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. During this test, video clips of increasing length are presented. Results The majority of the participants (82.5%) reported a history of maltreatment during childhood. Women without trauma, when they completed the ERT did not show any significant emotion dysregulation. On the contrary, maltreated women, especially physically or sexually abused, had a distorted perception of emotions expressed on adult faces. Happiness is less detected, whereas fear and anger are recognized more rapidly and at a lower intensity compared to women not exposed to childhood trauma. The higher the score in abuse, the higher the emotion dysregulation is. Conclusions The main conclusion of this study contributes to the current knowledge on the link between the long-term effects of childhood trauma both to PMDD and to emotion dysregulation. Women with PMDD are more likely to have a history of childhood trauma, which is associated with poorer performance in facial emotion recognition. Trauma, however, is a treatable factor with. Therefore, interventions targeting both to heal trauma and to promote adaptive emotion regulation strategies, could be encouraged to improve the capability of women with a history of childhood trauma to challenge premenstrual symptoms. Disclosure of Interest None Declared Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [PTSD and trauma](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-ptsd-trauma/)[Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pmdd/)[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Stigma, attitudes and culture](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-stigma-culture/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Mood swings and emotion regulation](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-emotional-regulation/)[Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Randomised trial, 2023 What does research show about PMDD neurochemistry? Survey study, 2026 How common is premenstrual tension and does it affect university students' studies? Survey study, 2023 How common are PMS and PMDD among college girls, and what are their symptoms? Case-control study, 2026 Do women with PMS handle emotions differently at different times of the cycle? Cohort study, 2023 Is PMDD a valid medical diagnosis? Randomised trial, 2007 Does paroxetine work better if taken daily or just during your luteal phase for PMDD? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗