Emotional Abuse and Psychosis: A Recent Review of the Literature

This article evaluates the published empirical findings on childhood emotional abuse and its proposed relationship with psychotic symptoms. Research and governmental policy indicates that emotional abuse is present in all forms of abuse and neglect, suggesting it is the form of abuse most frequently linked to mental health problems. Literature searches were conducted in 3 peer-reviewed electronic databases and relevant papers were reviewed. Results suggest childhood emotional abuse is statistically related to psychosis in adulthood. This adds tentative support to the hypothesis that emotional abuse is related to psychotic experiences; in particular to hallucinations and persecutory delusions. A number of studies also provide tentative support to the dose-response effect proposed between cumulative trauma and a greater risk of positive psychotic symptoms.