Childhood emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and diagnoses of depressive and anxiety disorders in adult psychiatric outpatients.
Although a number of theorists have hypothesized a link between negative experiences during childhood (e.g., abuse) and the presence of psychopathology in adults, little is known about the relative specificity of childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse to different forms of psychopathology. In this study, we hypothesized that adult psychiatric outpatients' reports of childhood emotional abuse would exhibit a specific relationship with diagnoses of depression. Analyses partially supported our hypothesis. Specifically, diagnoses of major depression were significantly more strongly related to reports of childhood emotional abuse than to physical or sexual abuse. However, the same effect was observed for social phobia. In addition, patients with major depression reported equivalent levels of childhood emotional abuse as patients with social phobia, but lower levels of emotional abuse than those with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Gibb
Brandon E
BE
Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA. bgibb@binghamton.edu
Chelminski
Iwona
I
Zimmerman
Mark
M
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires