Hardy, Amy, Emsley, Richard, Freeman, Daniel, Bebbington, Paul, Garety, Philippa A, Kuipers, Elizabeth E, Dunn, Graham and Fowler, David (2016) Psychological mechanisms mediating effects between trauma and psychotic symptoms: the role of affect regulation, intrusive trauma memory, beliefs, and depression. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 42 (suppl1). S34-S43. ISSN 1745-1701

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Abstract

Evidence suggests a causal role for trauma in psychosis, particularly for childhood victimization. However, the establishment of underlying trauma-related mechanisms would strengthen the causal argument. In a sample of peo-ple with relapsing psychosis (n = 228), we tested hypoth-esized mechanisms specifically related to impaired affect regulation, intrusive trauma memory, beliefs, and depres-sion. The majority of participants (74.1%) reported vic-timization trauma, and a fifth (21.5%) met symptomatic criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. We found a specific link between childhood sexual abuse and auditory hallucinations (adjusted OR = 2.21, SE = 0.74, P = .018). This relationship was mediated by posttraumatic avoid-ance and numbing (OR = 1.48, SE = 0.19, P = .038) and hyperarousal (OR = 1.44, SE = 0.18, P = .045), but not intrusive trauma memory, negative beliefs or depression. In contrast, childhood emotional abuse was specifically associated with delusions, both persecutory (adjusted OR = 2.21, SE = 0.68, P = .009) and referential (adjusted OR = 2.43, SE = 0.74, P = .004). The link with persecutory delusions was mediated by negative-other beliefs (OR = 1.36, SE = 0.14, P = .024), but not posttraumatic stress symptoms, negative-self beliefs, or depression. There was no evidence of mediation for referential delusions. No rela-tionships were identified between childhood physical abuse and psychosis. The findings underline the role of cognitive-affective processes in the relationship between trauma and symptoms, and the importance of assessing and treating victimization and its psychological consequences in people with psychosis.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	victimization/psychosis/reexperiencing/hyper arousal/avoidance/schema
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Depositing User:	Ellena Adams
Date Deposited:	25 May 2018 16:19
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 15:36
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/76128

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