Impacts of Acute Psychological Stress on the Emotions of Individuals with Early Life Stress.

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate negative and positive emotional responses to acute psychological stress in individuals with early life stress (ELS).

Methods: One hundred sixty-one participants from the Birmingham community in Alabama completed the study and were stratified into 2 groups based on measurements of ELS using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and a confirmatory clinical interview. Acute psychological stress, that is, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), was administered, and emotional responses were measured using the Visual Analogue Scale. Comparisons utilized chi-square for categorical variables and t-test for continuous variables. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was applied to compare the 2 groups after controlling for confounding variables. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate predictive power of variables for emotional responses to the TSST.

Results: Participants with ELS experienced less pleasantness at the baseline (P = .02), and 1 minute (P = .04), but not 90 minutes time points compared to the non-ELS group. Participants in the ELS group also reported higher anxiety at baseline (P = .003), and 90 minutes (P = .04) post-TSST. Data analysis showed the effect of time on emotional responses during the TSST. Different emotional responses, including pleasantness, anxiety, fatigue, and vigor, were able to be predicted by ELS severity.

Conclusion: Our data demonstrates that individuals with ELS presented different positive and negative emotional responses when exposed to acute psychological stress. Our findings may be useful for clinicians who work with individuals with ELS. Our findings also highlight the importance of recognizing emotional responses and of building up resilience in response to acute stress.