Supervisors info:
Στεφανής Νικόλαος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ, Επιβλέπων
Ξενάκη Λήδα-Άλκηστη, Επιστημονική Συνεργάτης, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Λέκκος Πέτρος, Επιστημονικός Συνεργάτης, Iατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
a)Introduction/Purpose:
The paper discusses the updated data of the last 5 years regarding the impact of childhood trauma on the development of psychosis. To the best of my knowledge there is no other systematic review on the same topic that studies and compares clinical studies involving countries from all continents, including ethnic minorities for which there is little research data, giving the study a cross-cultural character. This systematic review aims to investigate the association between childhood trauma and psychosis, specifically to expand the causal pathways between them, utilizing existing psychological theories.
b) Material & Methods:
This is a systematic review that included 30 articles from the following databases: PubMed, Science Direct, Semantic Scholar, and Scopus. The selection criteria were the time period of the last five years, English language, and open access. The types of articles used were clinical studies, randomized controlled trials, and research articles.
c) Results/Discussion:
Several correlations were found between different types of childhood trauma, such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, physical and emotional neglect, bullying, interpersonal loss, witnessing domestic violence, divorce, attachment trauma, identity-role trauma, and survival trauma. A dose-response relationship was observed between the number of trauma categories and positive and negative symptoms. The affected areas included not only positive, negative, and dissociative symptoms but also cognitive and social deficits. Some types of trauma appeared to lower the age of onset of psychosis, and differences were observed between genders in relation to different symptoms.
d) Conclusions:
The correlation between childhood trauma and the onset of psychosis has been the subject of extensive research in recent years, showing a strong connection between these two factors. Therefore, it is crucial to raise awareness among mental health professionals about the recognition of childhood trauma in patients with psychosis—and beyond. This awareness will contribute to early diagnosis, appropriate and effective personalized therapeutic interventions, and reduced hospitalization duration.
