A recent study conducted in the Netherlands explored the daily emotional experiences of individuals who have undergone childhood trauma. This study found that compared to those without a history of trauma, childhood trauma survivors experienced lower levels of positive emotions and higher levels of negative emotions on a daily basis. Additionally, these individuals exhibited greater variations in the intensity of their emotions. The findings were published in Psychological Medicine.
Childhood trauma can be categorized as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, or exposure to violence or extreme stress during a person’s early years. The study suggests that these highly distressing experiences can have profound and enduring effects, disrupting the normal development of a child’s brain and contributing to long-term issues in psychological, emotional, and physical health. These effects may lead to difficulties in forming relationships, mental health disorders, and increased vulnerability to stress in adulthood.
Moreover, research has consistently pointed to the link between childhood trauma and an increased prevalence of various diseases. Individuals with a history of childhood trauma are two to three times more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders, and these disorders are also twice as likely to become chronic in survivors of childhood trauma.
Lead author Erika Kuzminskaite and her team set out to investigate the everyday emotional experiences of childhood trauma survivors and their potential for greater variability or instability in their emotions. The study involved 384 Dutch-speaking adults participating in an ongoing longitudinal study, the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. The participants were asked to report on their emotional state multiple times a day over a period of two weeks using a mobile app. The results indicated that individuals with a history of childhood trauma exhibited greater fluctuations in their emotional symptoms on a day-to-day basis, consistently scoring higher on negative affect and lower on positive affect.
It is essential to consider the limitations of the study, as the assessment of childhood trauma experiences relied on participants’ self-reported memories, relating to events that occurred decades ago. This may introduce recall bias, making it unclear to what extent associations are due to actual differences in childhood experiences.
As for future research, Kuzminskaite suggested the need to explore the contexts in which emotional symptoms in everyday life are specifically triggered or dampened in individuals with a history of trauma. Additionally, it’s important to examine how different psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments may impact affect dynamics in this population. The study, titled “Day-to-day affect fluctuations in adults with childhood trauma history: a two-week ecological momentary assessment study”, was authored by Erika Kuzminskaite, Christiaan H. Vinkers, Arnout C. Smit, Wouter van Ballegooijen, Bernet M. Elzinga, Harriëtte Riese, Yuri Milaneschi, and Brenda W.J.H. Penninx.
