Trauma and Psychosis: An analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey

Abstract

Previous research has shown that traumatic life events are associated with a diagnosis of psychosis. Rather than focus on particular events, this study aimed to estimate the effect of cumulative traumatic experiences on psychosis. The study was based on 2 large community samples (The Na-tional Comorbidity Survey [NCS], The British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey [BPMS]). All analyses were conducted using hierarchical binary logistic regression, with psychosis diagnosis as the dependent variable. Background demo-graphic variables were included in the first block, in addi-tion to alcohol/drug dependence and depression. A variable indicating the number of traumas experienced was entered in the second block. Experiencing 2 or more trauma types significantly predicted psychosis, and there appeared to be a dose-response type relationship. Particular traumatic experiences have been implicated in the etiology of psycho-sis. Consistent with previous research, molestation and physical abuse were significant predictors of psychosis us-ing the NCS, whereas for the BPMS, serious injury or as-sault and violence in the home were statistically significant. This study indicated the added risk of multiple traumatic experiences. Key words: psychosis/trauma/community sample