The effect of childhood trauma on the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms: A systematic review

Childhood trauma is associated with a range of psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, our understanding of the different types of childhood trauma and its impact on the different types and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) is still in its infancy.

We conducted a systematic review to synthesise the current knowledge on the possible relationships between childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in clinical and non-clinical populations.

We systematically searched four electronic databases for studies reporting on childhood trauma and OCS severity. Subsequently, we qualitatively synthesised results of eligible studies and effect sizes were also calculated.

Twenty-four studies were included in this systematic review. Most studies used OCD samples (k = 16), with a few studies using a sample comprising of a range of psychiatric disorders (k = 6) and some studies using a general community sample (k = 2). Overall, there was support for a significant relationship between childhood trauma and OCS severity (8 out of 16 of the studies using OCD clinical samples, both studies using general population samples, and 5 out of 6 studies used mixed psychiatric samples).

We found evidence of a significant relationship between exposure to childhood trauma and OCS severity across clinical and non-clinical populations. Our results also suggest that a range rather than a single type of childhood trauma was associated with OCD.