The Impact of Childhood Adversity on the Clinical Features of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction. Recent research has drawn attention to the link between childhood maltreatment and schizophrenia. Child abuse and neglect may have an impact on symptoms and physical health in these patients. This association has not been studied to date in India. Materials and Methods. Clinically stable patients with schizophrenia (n = 62) were assessed for childhood adversity using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. The association of specific forms of adversity with symptomatology and associated variables was examined. Results. Emotional abuse was reported by 56.5% patients and physical abuse by 33.9%; scores for childhood neglect were also high. Persecutory delusions were linked to physical abuse, while anxiety was linked to emotional neglect and depression to emotional abuse and childhood neglect. Physical abuse was linked to elevated systolic blood pressure, while emotional abuse and neglect in women were linked to being overweight. Conclusions. Childhood adversity is common in schizophrenia and appears to be associated with a specific symptom profile. Certain components of the metabolic syndrome also appear to be related to childhood adversity. These results are subject to certain limitations as they are derived from remitted patients, and no control group was used for measures of childhood adversity.

Auditory and non-auditory hallucinations in first-episode psychosis: Differential associations with diverse clinical features

“…However, few studies have focused on first-episode psychosis and on associations with specific types of hallucinations. Neither Rajkumar (2015) nor Uçok and Bikmaz (2007) found an association between auditory hallucinations and sexual abuse, though in the latter study the authors showed higher SAPS total scores in patients exposed to childhood sexual abuse. On the other hand, recent studies highlighted the role of sexual abuse in auditory verbal hallucinations in females, as well as the correlation between non-auditory hallucinations and childhood rape, and visual hallucinations and interpersonal abuse (Misiak et al, 2016; Longden et al, 2016; Solesvik et al, 2016).…”

Delusions in first-episode psychosis: Principal component analysis of twelve types of delusions and demographic and clinical correlates of resulting domains

“…There is growing interest focusing on putative relationships between specific childhood adversities and specific psychotic symptoms (Bentall et al, 2014). With regards to delusions, a specific relationship between persecutory delusions and physical abuse has been suggested (Bentall et al, 2012; Rajkumar, 2015). However, such findings have not been replicated (Longden et al, 2015; Read et al, 2003; Uçok and Bıkmaz, 2007; van Nierop et al, 2014), and a more global model of associations, in which no differential associations between particular adversities and specific delusions exists, has been proposed (Longden et al, 2015).…”

Schizophrenia clinical symptom differences in women vs. men with and without a history of childhood physical abuse

“…The release of stress hormones can lead to physiological changes. For example, Rajkumar found that physical abuse was linked to elevated systolic blood pressure in women [ 50 ].…”