Childhood trauma and health outcomes in adults with comorbid substance abuse and mental health disorders

Abstract

This study describes the prevalence of childhood traumatic events (CTEs) among adults with comorbid substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental health problems (MHPs) and assesses the relation between cumulative CTEs and adult health outcomes. Adults with SUDs/MHPs (N=402) were recruited from residential treatment programs and interviewed at treatment admission. Exposures to 9 types of adverse childhood experiences were summed and categorized into 6 ordinal levels of exposure. Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess the prevalence and range of exposure to CTEs in comparison with a sample from primary health care. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between the cumulative exposure to CTEs and adverse health outcomes. Most of the sample reported exposure to CTEs, with higher exposure rates among the study sample compared with the primary health care sample. Greater exposure to CTEs significantly increased the odds of several adverse adult outcomes, including PTSD, alcohol dependence, injection drug use, tobacco use, sex work, medical problems, and poor quality of life. Study findings support the importance of early prevention and intervention and provision of trauma treatment for individuals with SUDs/MHPs.

An examination of the broader effects of warzone experiences on returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans׳ psychiatric health

“…This finding was particularly unexpected given the association between trauma and substance use disorders that has been observed in previous studies Min et al, 2007;Wu et al, 2010). These findings are, however, consistent with recent research demonstrating that combat exposure is much more strongly associated with internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression, than externalizing disorders, such as AUD (e.g., Guyker et al, 2013).…”

Childhood Trauma and Resilience: Vulnerabilities to Develop Crack/Cocaine Dependence

“…Substance abuse, especially cocaine dependence, is highly associated with childhood trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) [9,10]. At the same time that traumatic events increase vulnerability to experimentation of psychoactive substances, drug use creates an environment that facilitates the onset of the aforementioned events, which can also affect brain structures and function.…”

Childhood Maltreatment Is Associated with Larger Left Thalamic Gray Matter Volume in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

“…ACEs have been linked to substance abuse [7][8][9][10][11], depression [7,8,12,13], cardiovascular disease [7,14], diabetes [7], cancer [7,15,16], risky sexual behaviors [17][18][19], sexually transmitted infections [7,8,19] suicidality [7,8,13,17,18], and premature mortality in adulthood [17]. Researchers have suggested examining multiple ACEs allowing for a potential assessment of a graded relationship between these exposures and health outcomes [6].…”