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. Method: 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. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that childhood trauma may alter the presentation of schizophrenia in first admission.