Association of types of delusions and hallucinations with childhood abuse and neglect among inpatients with schizophrenia in South Korea: A preliminary study

ABSTRACT

This study examined the association of several types of childhood trauma with types of delusions and hallucinations among 42 younger adult inpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia at a university-affiliated hospital in South Korea. Participants were administered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire – short form and the Scale for Assessment of Positive symptoms. Emotional abuse had a positive correlation with delusions of reference, persecutory delusions, and delusions of being controlled. There was no statistically significant relationship between childhood abuse/neglect and hallucinations. The contents of some delusions reflected adverse childhood experiences, indicating a need for further exploration of the contribution of childhood trauma to current psychotic symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood trauma
• schizophrenia
• emotional abuse
• delusions and hallucinations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Korean Mental Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea [grant number HM15C1058].