Investigation of therelationship between childhood traumatic experience and dissociative, positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia

Investigation of TheRelationship Between Childhood Traumatic Experience and Dissociative, Positive and Negative Symptoms in Patients with Schizophrenia Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the association between childhood traumas and dissociative and positive and negative symptoms in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and to compare with the control group. Methods: 100 schizophrenic patients who referred to Rize Training and Research Hospital Psychiatry Polyclinic and Rize State Hospital Community Mental Health Centre consecutively between 1.6.2016 and 1.12.2017 and 100 healthy volunteers were included in the study. The patients and the healthy control group were given Sociodemographic Data Form, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Dissociative Experiences Scale and Childhood Traumas Questionnaire. Results: According to our results, total and sub-scale CTQ scores of schizophrenia patients were significantly higher than those of the control group (p<0.05 for all comparisons). DES scores of the schizophrenia group was significantly higher than those of the control group (p=0.0001). In schizophrenia patients, positive association was found between positive symptoms total scores and DES scores (r=0.254, p<0.011). In terms of positive symptoms subscales, positive association was found between Hallucination scores (r=0.212, p<0,034) and DES scores and also between Delirium scores (r=0.243, p<0.015) and DES scores and CTQ-DIH (r=0.208, p<0.038). In schizophrenia patients, in terms of negative symptoms, positive association was found between Apathy and CTQ-DIH (r=0.232, p<0.020), CTQ-FIH (r=0.223, p<0.026) and CTQ-Total (r=0.247, p<0.013). Positive association was also found between Anhedonia and CTQ-DIH (r=0.317, p<0.001), CTQ-FIH (r=0.246, p<0.014) and CTQ-Total (r=0.297, p<0.003). Positive association was found between negative symptoms total scores and CTQ-DİH scores (r=0.213, p<0.033), and positive significant association was found between PANSS-Total scores and CTQ-DİH (r=0.217, p=0.030) subscale scores. Conclusion: Since childhood traumas can influence the severity and prognosis of the disease in schizophrenia cases, childhood traumas should also be examined with psychotic symptoms in these patients and together with medication therapies, childhood traumas should be dealt with suitable therapies. Dissociative symptoms in schizophrenia patients were found to be significantly high when compared with the control group and the complex association between these two psychopathologies and childhood trauma history require further research on the subject. Key words: Schizophrenia, childhood traumas, dissociation, positive and negative symptoms