Characteristics of childhood traumatic experiences in adult patients with paranoid schizophrenia

In the absence of sufficient data on the environment-related context of schizophrenia spectrum disorders in Russian clinical psychology, the study of the factors affecting the onset and course of these disorders is becoming increasingly important. Aim. The aim of our research was to study the characteristics of childhood traumatic experience, as well as its relations with psychopathological symptoms in patients with paranoid schizophrenia and possible mechanisms of such relations. Materials and methods: the symptom check list SCL-90 for assessing the severity of psychopathological symptoms, the adverse childhood experience international questionnaire (WHO ACE IQ), the magical ideation scale by M. Eckblad and L. Chapman, the Toronto alexithymia scale TAS-20-R, and a structured questionnaire have been used for the purpose of the study. Results. The obtained data demonstrate that the most frequent types of childhood traumatic experiences were emotional abuse, separation from parents and collective violence, the least frequent psychological traumas are mental illness in family members and sexual abuse. Most respondents report traumatic events as objectively significant. 57 % of respondents do not have the ability to respond to traumatic events, 89 % consider the events subjectively unfair, 46 % believe that traumatic events are relevant at the moment. Prolonged events leading to mental overstrain were of prevailing intensity. A number of types of childhood traumatic experiences have correlations with psychopathological symptoms: physical violence correlates with hostility; emotional abuse has correlations with anxiety and psychoticism; substance abuse by family members correlates with both obsessive-compulsive symptoms and hostility; emotional neglect and collective violence have correlations with psychoticism; bullying correlates with interpersonal sensitivity and anxiety. The overall level of childhood traumatic experience correlates with psychoticism and externally-oriented thinking. Domestic violence correlates with magical ideation. Conclusion: the results of the study suggest that childhood psychological trauma is a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, in particular paranoid schizophrenia. Magical ideation and externally-oriented thinking can be included in the mechanism of this relationship.