CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 568Child Abuse and TraumaSchizophrenia research and treatmentPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

Environment and Schizophrenia: Environmental Factors in Schizophrenia: Childhood Trauma--A Critical Review

Open access
Morgan, C., Fisher, H.·2006·Schizophrenia Bulletin
DOI 10.1093/schbul/sbl053PMC PMC2632300
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

There is renewed interest in the relationship between early childhood trauma and risk of psychosis in adulthood. There are a large number of studies of psychiatric inpatients, and of outpatients in which a majority have a psychotic disorder, that suggest the prevalence of childhood trauma in these populations is high. However, these are generally small studies of diagnostically heterogeneous and chronic samples and, as such, can tell us very little about whether childhood trauma is of etiological importance in psychosis. A small number of recent population-based studies provide more robust evidence of an association, and there are now plausible biological mechanisms linking childhood trauma and psychosis. However, there remain a number of conceptual and methodological issues, which mean much more research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about whether childhood trauma is a cause of psychosis.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/schbul/sbl053

Cites

8 of 8 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Multiple studies and reviews indicate that the majority of adults who experience psychosis were abused or neglected as children.

    “not all adults who experience psychosis were abused or neglected as children (although multiple studies and reviews indicate this is the case for the majority [3-15] ).”

    From The traumagenic neurodevelopmental model of psychosis revisited (2014) · cites this paper as [7]

    In “The Prevalence of Childhood Trauma in Clinical Populations” (page not available), the review discusses studies of childhood abuse among people with psychotic illness. But it calls the reported prevalence estimates misleading because many study samples did not consist entirely of people with psychosis; estimates fell when restricted to studies that did. It does not establish that a majority of adults experiencing psychosis were abused or neglected as children. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Several lines of evidence indicate a potential causative component to the relationships between psychosocial risk exposures and mental illness, as these risk exposures demonstrate dose-response relationships.

    “Several lines of evidence indicate a potential causative component to these relationships as these risk exposures demonstrate dose-response relationships (Janssen et al., 2004; Morgan and Fisher, 2007; Pedersen and Mortensen, 2001).”

    From The effects of psychosocial stress on dopaminergic function and the acute stress response (2019) · cites this paper as Morgan and Fisher, 2007

  • Cognitive models propose that minority status is associated with greater levels of social threat.

    “Cognitive models propose that minority status is associated with greater levels of social threat (Combs et al., 2002; Morgan and Fisher, 2007).”

    From The effects of psychosocial stress on dopaminergic function and the acute stress response (2019) · cites this paper as Morgan and Fisher, 2007

  • Studies of psychosocial stressors and dopamine function have typically investigated risk factors in isolation, despite the fact that the risk factors cluster together and may share common underlying mechanisms.

    “Studies of psychosocial stressors and dopamine function have typically investigated risk factors in isolation, despite the fact that the risk factors cluster together and may share common underlying mechanisms (Hjern et al., 2004; Morgan and Fisher, 2007; Wicks et al., 2005).”

    From The effects of psychosocial stress on dopaminergic function and the acute stress response (2019) · cites this paper as Morgan and Fisher, 2007

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 58

  1. May-Chahal C, Cawson P. Measuring child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse Negl. 2005;29: 969-984.
  2. Friedman S, Smith L, Fogel D, et al. The incidence and influ- ence of early traumatic life events in patients with panic dis- order: a comparison with other psychiatric outpatients. J Anxiety Dis. 2002;16:259-272.
  3. Paris J. Borderline Personality Disorders: A Multidimensional Approach. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1994.
  4. Spataro J, Mullen PE, Burgess PM, et al. Impact of child sexual abuse on mental health. Br J Psychiatry. 2004;184: 416-421.
  5. Christoffersen M, Poulsen H, Neilsen A. Attempted suicide among young people: risk factors in a prospective register based study of Danish people born in 1966. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2003;108:350-358.
  6. Mullen P, Martin JL, Anderson JC, Romans SE, Herbison P. Childhood sexual abuse and mental health in adult life. Br J Psychiatry. 1993;163:721-732.
  7. Morrison AP, Frame L, Larkin W. Relationships between trauma and psychosis: a review and integration. Br J Clin Psychol. 2003;42:331-353.
  8. Kendler K, Bulik S, Silberg J, Hettema J, Myers J, Prescott C. Childhood sexual abuse and adult psychiatric and sub- stance use disorders in women. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000;57: 953-959.
  9. Johnson JG, Cohen PA, Brown J. Childhood maltreatment increases the risk for personality disorders during early child- hood. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56:600-606.
  10. Read J, van Os J, Morrison AP, Ross CA. Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: a literature review with theoret- ical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2005;112: 330-350.
  11. Compton M, Furman A, Kaslow N. Preliminary evidence of an association between childhood abuse and cannabis depen- dence among African American first-episode schizophrenia- spectrum disorder patients. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2004;76: 311-316.
  12. Greenfield S, Strakowski S, Thohen M, et al. Childhood abuse in first-episode psychosis. Br J Psychiatry. 1994;164: 831-834.
  13. Morrison AP, Petersen T. Trauma and metacognition as pre- dictors of predisposition to hallucinations. Behav Cogn Psy- chother. 2003;31:235-246.
  14. Scheller-Gilkey G, Moynes K, Cooper I, et al. Early life stress and PTSD symptoms in patients with comorbid schizophrenia and substance abuse. Schizophr Res. 2004;69: 167-174.
  15. Bebbington PE, Bhugra D, Brugha T, et al. Psychosis, victim- isation and childhood disadvantage. Br J Psychiatry. 2004;185:220-226.
  16. Janssen I, Krabbendam L, Bak M, et al. Childhood abuse as a risk factor for psychotic experiences. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2004;109:38-45.
  17. Whitfield C, Dube S, Felitti V, Anda R. Adverse childhood experiences and hallucinations. Child Abuse Negl. 2005;29: 797-810.
  18. Spauwen J, Krabbendam L, Lieb R, et al. Impact of psycho- logical trauma on the development of psychotic symptoms: relationship with psychosis proneness. Br J Psychiatry. 2006; 188:527-533.
  19. Read J, Agar K, Argyle N, Aderhold V. Sexual and physical assault during childhood and adulthood as predictors of hal- lucinations, delusions and thought disorder. Psychol Psy- chother Theory Res Pract. 2003;76:1-22.
  20. Hammersley P, Dias A, Todd G, Bowen-Jones K, Reilly B, Bentall R. Childhood traumas and hallucinations in bipolar affective disorder. Br J Psychiatry. 2003;182:543-547.
  21. Read J, Argyle N. Hallucinations, delusions and thought dis- orders among adult psychiatric inpatients with a history of child abuse. Psychiatr Serv. 1999;50:1467-1472.
  22. Resnik S, Bond G, Mueser K. Trauma and PTSD in people with schizophrenia. J Abnomr Psychol. 2003;112: 415-423.
  23. Lysaker P, Meyer P, Evans J, Clements C, Marks K. Child- hood sexual trauma and psychosocial functioning in adults with schizophrenia. Psychiatr Serv. 2001;52:1485-1488.
  24. Seedat S, Stein M, Oosthuizen P, Emsley R, Stein D. Linking PTSD and psychosis: a look at epidemiology, phenomenol- ogy and treatment. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2003;191:675-681.
  25. Ellason J, Ross C. Positive and negative symptoms in dissociative disorder and schizophrenia. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1995;83:236-241.
  26. Tutkun H, Sar V, Yargic I, Ozpulat T, Yanik M, Kiziltan E. Frequency of dissociative disorders among psychiatric inpatients in a Turkish university clinic. Am J Psychiatry. 1998;155:800-805.
  27. Meuser K, Trumbetta S, Rosenberg S, et al. Trauma and PTSD in severe mental illness. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1998;66:493-499.
  28. Spitzer M. A neurocomputational approach to delusions. Compr Psychiatr. 1995;36:83-105.
  29. Hall FS, Wilkinson LS, Humby T, et al. Maternal deprivation of neonatal rats produces enduring changes in dopamine function. Synapse. 1999;32:37-43.
  30. Berton O, McClung CA, DiLeone RJ, et al. Essential Role of BDNF in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway in social defeat stress. Science. 2006;311:864-868.
  31. Tidey JW, Miczek KA. Social defeat stress selectively alters mesocorticolimbic dopamine release: an in vivo microdialysis study. Brain Res. 1996;721:140-149.
  32. De Bellis M, Chrousos G, Dorn L, et al. Hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation in sexually abused girls. J Clin Endocrin Metabol. 1994;78:249-255.
  33. Putnam F, Trickett P, Helmers K, Dorn L, Everett B. Corti- sol abnormalities in sexually abused girls. Proceedings of the 144th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Associa- tion. Washington, DC: 1991;107.
  34. Walker E, Di Forio D. Schizophrenia: a neural diathesis- stress model. Psychol Rev. 1997;104:667-685.
  35. Pariante CM, Vassilopoulou K, Velakoulis D, et al. Pituitary volume in psychosis. Br J Psychiatry. 2004;185:5-10.
  36. Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Cannon M, et al. Moderation of the effect of adolescent-onset cannabis use on adult psychosis by a functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltrans- ferase gene: longitudinal evidence of a gene x environment interaction. Biol Psychiatry. 2005;57:1117-1127.
  37. Tienari P, Wynne L, Sorri A, et al. Genotype-environment interaction in schizophreni-spectrum disorder: long-term follow-up study of Finnish adoptees. Br J Psychiatry. 2004; 184:216-222.
  38. Itoi K, Mouri T, Takahashi K, et al. Suppression by glucocorticoid of the immunoreactivity of corticotrophin- releasing factor and vasopressin in the paraventricular nucleus of rat hypothalamus. Neurosci Lett. 1987;73:231-236.
  39. Itoi K, Seasholtz AF, Watson SJ. Cellular and extracellular regulatory mechanisms of hypothalamic corticotrophin- releasing hormone neurons. Endocr J. 1998;45:13-33.
  40. Pariante CM, Miller AH. Glucocorticoid receptors in major depression: relevance to pathophysiology and treatment. Biol Psychiatry. 2001;49:391-404.
  41. Sabol SZ, Hu S, Hamer D. A functional polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase: a gene promoter. Hum Genet. 1998;103: 273-279.
  42. Friedman S, Harrison G. Sexual histories, attitudes and behaviour of schizophrenic and normal women. Arch Sex Behav. 1984;13:555-567.
  43. Goff D, Brotman A, Kindlon D, Waites M, Amico E. Self- reports of child abuse in chronically psychotic patients. Psy- chiatry Res. 1991;37:73-80.
  44. Ross C, Anderson G, Clark P. Childhood abuse and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1994;45:489-491.
  45. Trojan O. Sexual experiences of psychotic patients. In J Ado- lesc Med Health. 1994;7:209-217.
  46. Darves-Bornoz J-M, Lemperiere T, Degiovanni A, Gaillard P. Sexual victimization in women with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1995; 30:78-84.
  47. Miller L, Finnerty M. Sexuality, pregnancy, and child-rearing among women with schizophrenic-spectrum disorders. Psy- chiatr Serv. 1996;47:502-506.
  48. Goodman L, Thompson K, Weinfurt K. Reliability of violent victimization and PTSD among men and women with serious mental illness. J Trauma Stress. 1999;12:587-599.
  49. Holowka D, King S, Saheb D, Pukall M, Brunet A. Child- hood abuse and dissociative symptoms in adult schizophre- nia. Schizophr Res. 2003;60:87-90.
  50. Offen L, Waller G, Thomas G. Is reported childhood sexual abuse associated with the psychopathological characteristics of patients who experience auditory hallucinations? Child Abuse Negl. 2003;27:919-927.
  51. Lysaker P, Wickett A, Lancaster R, Davis L. Neurocognitive deficits and history of child abuse in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Schizophr Res. 2004;68:87-94.
  52. Kilcommons A, Morrison A. Relationships between trauma and psychosis: an exploration of cognitive factors. Acta Psy- chiatr Scand. 2005;112:351-359.
  53. Lysaker P, Hunter N, Strasburger A, Davis L. Reported his- tory of child sexual abuse in schizophrenia: associations with heightened symptom levels and poorer participation over four months in vocational rehabilitation. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2005;193:790-795.
  54. Scha ¨fer I, Harfst T, Aderhold V, et al. Childhood trauma and dissociation in female patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2006;194:135-138.
  55. Bowe S, Morrison A, Morley S. The relationship between past childhood trauma and auditory hallucinations in individ- uals with psychosis. Br J Clin Psychol. In press.
  56. Bebbington P, Nayani T. The psychosis screening question- naire. In J Methods Psychiatr Res. 1995;5:11-20.
  57. Overall JE, Gorham DR. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychol Rep. 1962;10:799-812.
  58. Slade M, Phelan M, Thornicroft G, et al. The Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN): comparison of assessments by staff and patients of the needs of the severely mentally ill. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1996;31:109-113.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Morgan, C., & Fisher, H.
Affiliations
King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Morgan, C.
ORCID
Venue
Schizophrenia Bulletin
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2006-12-07
Volume
33
Issue
1
Pages
3-10
ISSN
  • 0586-7614 (ISSN-L)
  • 1745-1701
DOI
10.1093/schbul/sbl053
PMC
PMC2632300
OpenAlex
W2152149585
Cited by
568
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 55 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 59
FWCI
3.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Schizophrenia Bulletin (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
childhood trauma, schizophrenia
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Child Abuse, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Psychology, Social Environment, Statistics as Topic

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review