Early trauma may change stress response

ITHACA, N.Y., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Rape, sudden death of a loved one, life-threatening accidents and other such traumas may change how a person responds to stress, a U.S. study found.

Barbara Ganzel, of Cornell University's College of Human Ecology, led a team of Cornell researchers, who assessed a group of women before and after they took their medical admissions tests, or MCATs, a stressful experience for most people.

Measuring levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva, the researchers found that women who had experienced trauma earlier in life, but who did not have post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, had lower levels of cortisol leading up to and after the MCAT exam.

The study, published in a special issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, also found the women who had experienced trauma kept a negative mood after the test, compared with other women, whose moods lifted significantly after the exams.

Ganzel theorized the trauma-exposed women showed lower rather than higher levels of cortisol, because "stress initially boosts cortisol output but after the stressor is over, cortisol falls below normal."