33, P = 0.082), IRI personal distress (r = 0.18, P = 0.356), IRI fantasy (r = 0.27, P = 0.158), or TEQ total (ρ = 0.22, P = 0.261). The distribution of empathy scores among the group with PTSD is of further interest as it may be expected that some individuals with PTSD have

impaired empathy, while others may have exaggerated empathy. The distribution of empathy scores among the sample with PTSD, as represented by the standard score of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical skewness, was as follows: IRI fantasy: 0.77, IRI perspective taking: −1.64, IRI empathic concern: −2.00, IRI personal distress: 0.82, and TEQ: −2.35. Discussion To our knowledge, this study is the first to reveal alterations in empathic responding among women with PTSD related to childhood trauma. Although women with PTSD reported a reduced ability to identify the social cognitive perspective of others (IRI perspective taking) and reduced feelings of care Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and concern in response to another’s emotional experience (IRI empathic concern), their levels of personal distress in response to learning of others’ negative experiences (IRI personal distress) were higher than those reported by

matched controls. Of the empathy subscales that differed significantly between groups, the only one that was predicted by clinical variables was IRI perspective taking. Specifically, higher levels of self-reported PBI parental care predicted higher levels of self-reported perspective Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical taking ability among women with PTSD. The finding of reduced perspective taking ability in the PTSD group is novel in the literature and suggests deficits in cognitive empathic abilities among women with PTSD associated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with childhood trauma. Although previous studies, including work in our own laboratory (Cusi et al. 2011), indicate that participants with MDD Epacadostat solubility dmso report reduced levels of perspective taking, this pattern did not emerge in Nietlisbach et al.’s (2010) study, where levels of perspective taking did not differ between participants with PTSD and controls. Critically, Nietlisbach et al. studied a group with PTSD that differed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical extensively from our group of participants with PTSD in terms of symptom

severity, type of trauma exposure, and sex of participants, with half of the sample consisting of males. GBA3 The present finding that women with a history of developmental trauma exposure showed reduced levels of perspective taking, an ability thought central to Theory of Mind (ToM), is in line with our earlier report that this sample shows alterations in mental state identification and in the perception of kinship interactions (Nazarov et al. 2013). Further work will be required to understand the relation between cognitive functioning (e.g., reduced working memory; poor executive functioning) and perspective taking in individuals with PTSD, as perspective taking is thought to rely on cognitive resources. Although women with PTSD showed reduced cognitive empathy (i.e.