Dissociative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and their association with childhood trauma.

Punya Mulky; Jayakrishnaveni.C

Volume : VII, Issue : IV, April - 2018

Dissociative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and their association with childhood trauma.

Punya Mulky, Jayakrishnaveni. C

Abstract :

Background:Dissociativesymptoms(DS)inpatientswithschizophreniahavebeenreported,with greaterassociationofDSwithpositivesymptoms ofschizophrenia.Somestudieshaveproventhatdissociativesymptomsoccurringinschizophrenia areoftenprecededbytraumatic experiences.

Aim:Tostudyandcompare the prevalenceofdissociative symptomsinschizophreniapatients and controls,andexplore the associationsbetweenchildhood traumaandDS.

Materials And Methods:Thisisacrosssectionalstudyin which two groupsofsubjectswere recruited–First comprising of schizophreniapatientsand secondofcontrols.PANSS wasusedtoassessthe severityofschizophrenia inpatients.DissociativeExperiencesScale(DES)andAdverseChildhood Experiences– International Questionnaire(ACE–IQ)wasused toassessthepresenceof dissociativesymptoms andchildhood trauma respectively inallsubjects.Statisticalanalysis was doneusingSPSS.v.20.

Results:Theprevalenceofdissociativesymptoms inschizophrenia was52% as comparedto 24%incontrols,withmoresignificantfindingsfordissociativeamnesia and absorption subscales.Prevalenceof childhood trauma inschizophreniawas80%,more commonly beingemotionalabuse and neglect.Significantassociation wasfound between dissociativesymptomsand childhoodtrauma.

Conclusion:Patientswithpredominantlypositivesymptomsshouldbeassessedforthe presenceof dissociativedisorders.Trauma history needstobegivenmoreimportance.