Childhood trauma and psychosis

Abstract

During the last decade there has been an increase of interest in the study of the plausible link between childhood trauma and psychotic symptomatology. A considerable body of empirical evidence revealed that many patients with psychotic symptoms have indeed experienced childhood traumas but because of methodological weaknesses no causal relationship was managed to be established. These studies however despite their methodological weaknesses gave rise to the argument that psychotic symptomatology cannot solitarily be viewed as purely in the terms of genetic and biological aetiologies. Over the last decades a series of systematic reviews of previous studies, gave rise to new, large-scale studies that aim to clarify previous evidence, in a more accurate and methodology-consistent manner. Even though the new attempts brought to the light new empirical evidence and a stronger relationship between childhood trauma and psychosis has been established, we still need a much more detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms which connect the two. © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.