Relationship between Early Psychotraumatisation with the Onset and the Course of Psychotic Disorders

Connections between specific types of altered brain functioning and some mental disorders are still not fully clarified. However, there is a large number of evidence that indicates mental disorders are results of complex interactions of biological and environmental factors. When it comes to environmental factors, the main focus in the scientific literature has been particularly focused on early psychotraumatisation. Early psychotraumatisation is a multi-layered construct that essentially involves sexual, emotional and psychical neglect in childhood and emotional and psychical negligence, with about one-fourth of children experience a traumatic event before the age of 18. Although most children are resilient after traumatic exposure, some develop significant and potentially long-lasting psychiatric disorders. In addition, the high prevalence of trauma and neglect has been found in all types of psychiatric disorders. While early psychotraumatisation in patients with psychotic disorders was recently diminished or denied altogether, there is now strong evidence that the prevalence of childhood adversities in this population is exceptionally high. Regarding this, there is an increasing number of sophisticated studies that point out the fact that early psychotraumatisation has an important impact on development and clinical course of psychosis in adults. It seems that this relation is causal, especially when considering severity, frequency, and number of traumatic events. In addition, psychotic patients who experience psychotraumatisation at an earlier age along with their first psychotic episode are known to be hospitalized more often with their psychotic episodes lasting longer; further, they commit suicide more often and have more dissociative symptoms. These patients' is poorer such as their quality of life in comparison with patients without the experience of early psychotraumatisation. Moreover, this type of traumatic experience is very often an important determinant of phenomenology of psychotic disorder.