Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Childhood adversity and hallucinations: a community-based study using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Numerous studies of both clinical and large-scale population based samples have demonstrated that adverse childhood events are risk factors for subsequent psychosis. This study assessed the relationships between adverse childhood events and auditory and visual hallucinatory experiences.

Method

The study analysed data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication conducted in the US that assessed (all before age 16) rape, sexual assault and physical assault. Psychosis symptomatology was represented by lifetime experience of auditory and visual hallucinations. Control variables included gender, age, urbanity, ethnicity, marital status, education, employment status, alcohol dependence and drug dependence.

Results

All three adverse events were significantly related to both types of hallucinations. Those who had been raped as children were 3.3 times more likely to have experienced visual hallucinations and 3.5 times more likely to have experienced auditory hallucinations compared to those who had not been raped in childhood. Both rape and physical assault significantly predicted visual and auditory hallucinations. A significant dose–response relationship was also found.

Conclusions

Previous findings indicating that adverse events in childhood may be causally related to subsequent psychosis are supported. The psychological and biological mechanisms underlying the relationship are already the subject of investigation. Repeated recommendations concerning routine enquiry about adverse experiences in childhood in order to facilitate comprehensive formulations and appropriate treatment, also receive support from these findings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Read J, Bentall R, Fosse R (2009) Time to abandon the bio-bio-bio model of psychosis: exploring the epigenetic and psycholgocial mechanisms by which adverse life events lead to psychotic symptoms [Editorial]. Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc 18:299–317

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Read J, Fink P, Rudegeair T, Felitti V, Whitfield C (2008) Child maltreatment and psychosis: a return to a genuinely integrated bio-psycho-social model. Clin Schizophr Relat Psychoses 2:235–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Morgan C, Fisher H (2007) Environmental factors in Schizophrenia. Childhood Trauma—a critical review. Schizophr Bull 33:3–10

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Bendall S, Jackson HJ, Hulbert CA, McGorry PD (2008) Childhood trauma and psychotic disorders: a systematic, critical review of the evidence. Schizophr Bull 34:568–579

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Read J, Gumley A (2008) Can attachment theory help explain the relationship between childhood adversity and psychosis? Attachment 2:1–35

    Google Scholar 

  6. Read J, van Os J, Morrison A, Ross C (2005) Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: a literature review with theoretical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatr Scand 112:330–350

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bebbington P (2009) Childhood sexual abuse and psychosis: aetiology and mechanism. Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc 18:284–293

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Janssen I, Krabbendam L, Bak M, Hanssen M, Vollebergh W, de Graaf R, Van Os (2004) Childhood abuse as a risk factor for psychotic experiences. Acta Psychiatr Scand 109:38–45

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Conus P, Cotton S, Schimmelmann B, McGorry P, Lambert M (2009) Pretreatment and outcome correlates of sexual and physical trauma in an epidemiological cohort of first-episode psychosis patients. Schizophr Bull. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp009

  10. Fisher H, Morgan C, Dazzan P, Craig T, Morgan K, Hutchinson G, Jones PB, Doody GA, Pariante C, McGuffin P, Murray RM, Leff J, Fearon P (2009) Gender differences in the association between childhood abuse and psychosis. Br J Psychiatry 194:319–325

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Shevlin M, Dorahy MJ, Adamson G (2007) Childhood traumas and hallucinations: an analysis of the national comorbidity survey. J Psychiatr Res 41:222–228

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Kessler RC, Merikangas KR (2004) The national comorbidity survey replication (NCS-R): background and aims. Int J Method Psychiatr 13:60–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kessler RC (1994) The national comorbidity survey of the United States. Int Rev Psychiatr 6:365–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kessler RC, Ustun TB (2004) The world mental health (WMH) survey initiative version of the world health organization (WHO) composite international diagnostic interview (CIDI). Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 13:93–121

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Leung A, Chue P (2000) Sex differences in schizophrenia, a review of the literature. Acta Psychiatr Scand 401:3–38

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Moskowitz A, Schäfer I, Dorahy M (2008) Psychosis, trauma and dissociation: emerging perspectives on severe psychopathology, Wiley Press

  17. Larkin W, Morrison A (2006) Trauma and psychosis: new directions for theory and therapy, Routledge

  18. Read J, Mosher L, Bentall R (2004) Models of madness: psychological, social and biological approaches to schizophrenia. Brunner-Routledge, Hove, UK

    Book  Google Scholar 

  19. Freeman D, Garety PA, Kuipers E, Fowler D, Bebbington PE (2002) A cognitive model of persecutory delusions. Br J Clin Psychol 41:331–347

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Kilcommons AM, Morrison A (2005) Relationships between trauma and psychosis: an exploration of cognitive and dissociative factors. Acta Psychiatr Scand 112:351–359

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Read J, Perry BD, Moskowitz A, Connolly J (2001) The contribution of early traumatic events to schizophrenia in some patients: a traumagenic neurodevelopmental model. Psychiatry 64:319–345

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Gilmore J (2010) Understanding what causes schizophrenia: a developmental perspective. Am J Psychiatry 167:8–10

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. van Os J, Linscott RJ, Myin-Germeys I (2009) A systematic review and meta-analysis of the psychosis continuum: evidence for a psychosis proneness-persistence-impairment model of psychotic disorder. Psychol Med 39:179–195

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Murphy J, Shevlin M, Houston J, Adamson G. A population based analysis of sub-clinical psychosis and help-seeking behaviour. Schizophr Bull. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbq092

  25. Read J, Hammersley P, Rudegeair T (2007) Why, when and how to ask about child abuse. Adv Psychiatr Treat 13:101–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Fisher H, Craig T, Fearon P, Dazzan P, Lappin J, Hutchinson G, Doody G, Jones P, McGuffin P, Murray R, Leff J, Morgan, C. Reliablity and comparability of psychosis patients’ retrospective reports of childhood abuse. Schizophr Bull. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp103

  27. Martin J, Mullen P, Romans S, Herbison P (1993) The prevalence of childhood sexual abuse experiences in a community sample of women. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 32:911–919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Shevlin M, Dorahy MJ, Adamson G (2007) Trauma and psychosis: an analysis of the national comorbidity survey. Am J Psychiatry 164:166–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Bebbington PE, Bhugra D, Brugha T, Singleton N, Farrell M, Jenkins R, Lewis G, Meltzer H (2004) Psychosis, victimisation and childhood disadvantage: evidence from the second British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity. Br J Psychiatry 185:220–226

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Johns LC, Nazroo JY, Bebbington P, Kuipers E (2002) Occurrence of hallucinatory experiences in a community sample and ethnic variations. Br J Psychiatry 180:174–178

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Johns LC, Cannon M, Singleton N, Murray R, Farrell M, Brugha T, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Meltzer H (2004) Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population. Br J Psychiatry 185:298–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Spauwen J, Krabbendam L, Lieb R, Wittchen H, van Os J (2006) Impact of psychological trauma on the development of psychotic symptoms: relationship with psychosis proneness. Br J Psychiatry 188:527–533

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Scott J, Chant D, Andrews G, Martin G, McGrath J (2007) Association between trauma exposure and delusional experiences in a large community-based sample. Br J Psychiatry 190:339–343

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Loranger AW (1984) Sex difference in age at onset of Schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 41:157–161

    Google Scholar 

  35. van Os J, Hanssen M, Bijl RV, Ravelli A (2000) Strauss (1969) revisited: a psychosis continuum in the general population? Schizophr Res 45:11–20

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Johns LC, van Os J (2001) The continuity of psychotic experiences in the general population. Clin Psychol Rev 21:1125–1141

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Shevlin M, Murphy J, Dorahy MJ, Adamson G (2007) The distribution of positive psychosis-like symptoms in the population: a latent class analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey. Schizophr Res 89:101–109

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. World Health Organization (1973) International pilot study of schizophrenia, Geneva

  39. Schneider K (1959) Clinical psychopathology. Grune & Stratton, New York

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Research Institute, University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry, UK

    Mark Shevlin, Jamie Murphy, John Mallett & Gary Adamson

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    John Read

  3. Division of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    James Edward Houston

Authors
  1. Mark Shevlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jamie Murphy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John Read
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John Mallett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Gary Adamson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. James Edward Houston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Shevlin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shevlin, M., Murphy, J., Read, J. et al. Childhood adversity and hallucinations: a community-based study using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46, 1203–1210 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0296-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0296-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation