The link between childhood trauma and dissociation in frequent users of classic psychedelics and dissociatives

Abstract

Background: Childhood trauma severity is associated with the level of subsequent substance use as well as with the self-reported severity of dissociation. Classic psychedelics and dissociatives target neurotransmitter systems thought to be involved in the onset of dissociative symptoms and may evoke severe and long-lasting symptoms of depersonalization in some users. However, it is currently unclear whether drug use puts people with a history of childhood trauma at higher risk of developing dissociative symptoms. Objectives: The current study investigates whether the one-year prevalence of substance use significantly moderates the link between childhood trauma and the severity of depersonalization. Methods: Participants (n = 297, of which 80.2% were active users) filled out an online self-report questionnaire including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS), and information about their substance use. Results: Results indicate that childhood trauma and substance use are significant individual predictors of dissociation scores in this sample, but no moderation of substance use on the link between childhood trauma and depersonalization was established. Conclusions: It is hypothesized that the quality (particularly the context) of the experience of substance use rather than the sheer quantity may be responsible for the manifestation of depersonalization.

Ceremonial Ayahuasca in Amazonian Retreats—Mental Health and Epigenetic Outcomes From a Six-Month Naturalistic Study

“…It is possible that the modest changes in methylation in our sample was due in part to the minimal trauma history of many of our participants. Our overall CTQ scores are in line with previous research utilising the CTQ in non-clinical samples (80,81), and is lower than expected from clinical samples (82)-this is despite our depressed subsample not having a significantly different CTQ score to our non-depressed subsample.…”

Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Neuroplastic, Immunomodulatory, and Neurotransmitter Mechanisms

“…Further efforts should be devoted to identifying biological biomarkers and psychological predictors of psychedelicinduced subjective effects (such as rostral ACC thickness), as well as dissociation, negative experiences, and psychoses. This could help identify patients more likely to encounter challenging experiences (such as those with high neuroticism, emotional instability, and family history of psychosis, bipolar disorders, and childhood trauma) and implement adequate strategies to maximize therapeutic improvement while minimizing potential biological and psychological short-and longterm side effects (Barrett et al, 2017;Thal et al, 2019;Lewis et al, 2020).…”

Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: A mixed methods study

“…This has similar theoretical connotations to the Simonsson et al finding that a major life event prior to the experience was predictive of degree of enduring difficulty, in terms of antecedent life events being formative to psychedelic outcomes [ 16 ]. Previous research has identified a strong link between childhood trauma and developing dissociative symptoms following classic psychedelic use [ 46 ] as well as increased vulnerability to the development of psychiatric disorders [ 47 ].…”