Valence in the eyes: An emotion decoding profile of adults with major depressive disorder and a history of childhood maltreatment.

Background: Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and childhood maltreatment have been proposed to constitute a subgroup with worse illness course and outcomes. To elucidate a potential social cognitive vulnerability in this subgroup, this study compared the emotion decoding abilities of MDD patients with and without a history of childhood maltreatment.

Methods: Participants with a diagnosis of MDD were recruited from nationwide mental health organizations.