The effects of childhood trauma in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the impact of childhood trauma on psychopathology in 57 patients with first-episode schizophrenia.


METHODS
Psychopathology was assessed by Brief Psychiatric Research Scale (BPRS), Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) at first admission. Childhood trauma was assessed by Childhood Abuse Questionnaire and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) after discharge.


RESULTS
Frequencies of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), emotional abuse (CEA) and physical abuse (CPA) were reported by 29.8%, 40.9% and 13.6% of the patients respectively. Histories of childhood emotional neglect (CEN) and physical neglect were found in 29.5% and 20.5% of the patients respectively. The patients reporting CSA had higher SAPS scores at admission, and had more suicide attempts before admission. The patients with history of CEA had more hallucinations and delusions of mind reading at admission. CPA, CEA and mean scores of CTQ correlated with the number of siblings.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that childhood trauma may alter the presentation of schizophrenia in first admission.
Uçok
A
A
Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. alpucok@superonline.com
Bikmaz
S
S
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003702:Delusions / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors