In this study we are looking to see if inflammation also contributes to cycle-related symptoms, and if there are differences between women with and without trauma histories in how inflammation changes over the cycle. The reason we are testing this theory is because survivors of sexual trauma have significantly higher risk for cycle-related mental and physical health symptoms. While there is some research showing survivors of sexual trauma have hormone imbalances that can contribute to their higher rates of menstrual cycle-related health problems, other research fails to find any hormonal effects, suggesting hormones are not the only factor.
We are also hoping to gain knowledge from this research that will identify factors that lead to individual differences in risk for cycle-related mood disorders, and contribute to biopsychosocial models of sex/gender differences in mental health that contribute to women’s disproportionately higher risk for mood disorders. We are no longer recruiting participants at this time.