Childhood Maltreatment and Perceived Stress in Individuals with Concurrent Psychiatric Disorders

ABSTRACT

Perceived stress plays an important role in the development and course of psychiatric disorders and early dropout from treatment. This study examined the effect of different types of childhood maltreatment on the current perceived stress level of patients with concurrent substance use and psychiatric disorders. One hundred patients (25% females) were recruited from a residential center for treatment of concurrent substance use and psychiatric disorders and assessed for the histories of childhood maltreatment and level of perceived stress. Results indicated that all types of childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical neglect, and emotional, physical and sexual abuse) were associated with elevated levels of perceived stress regardless of demographic characteristics, diagnoses of psychiatric disorders, and length of stay in the center. Findings support the need for additional targeted interventions for managing perceived stress and improving emotional regulation and coping skills in psychiatric patients with childhood maltreatment histories.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood maltreatment subtypes
• stress response
• concurrent substance use and psychiatric disorders
• residential treatment
• targeted interventions

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ms. Katarina Zaturecky who kindly helped with providing the clinical data necessary for analyses of this study.

Disclosure of Interest

First author of the article was supported through PhD fellowship by the ‘‘Intersections of Mental Health Perspectives in Addictions Research Training (IMPART)’’. For the remaining authors none were declared. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

(All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the ethics Boards of University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Intersections of Mental Health Perspectives in Addictions Research Training (IMPART) [PhD fellowship].