Child abuse and neglect in complex dissociative disorder, abuse-related chronic PTSD, and mixed psychiatric samples

Abstract

Only a select number of studies have examined different forms of child maltreatment in complex dissociative disorders (DDs) in comparison to other groups. Few of these have used child abuse-related chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and mixed psychiatric (MP) patients with maltreatment as comparison groups. This study examined child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse as well as physical and emotional neglect in DD (n = 39), C-PTSD (n = 13), and MP (n = 21) samples, all with abuse and neglect histories. The predictive capacity of these different forms of maltreatment across the 3 groups was assessed for pathological dissociation, shame, guilt, relationship esteem, relationship anxiety, relationship depression, and fear of relationships. All forms of maltreatment differentiated the DD from the MP group, and sexual abuse differentiated the DD sample from the C-PTSD group. Childhood sexual abuse was the only predictor of pathological dissociation. Emotional abuse predicted shame, guilt, relationship anxiety, and fear of relationships. Emotional neglect predicted relationship anxiety and relationship depression. Physical neglect was associated with less relationship anxiety. Different forms of abuse and neglect are associated with different symptom clusters in psychiatric patients with maltreatment histories.

Anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in refugees resettling in high-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…childhood sexual or emotional abuse), with particularly strong associations with PTSD and depression, and moderate associations with anxiety. 99 – 101 Prevalence rates of anxiety, depression and PTSD among adult refugees are high relative not only to non-refugee populations, but also to populations living in conflict or war settings. This seems to suggest that it is not only the exposure to conflict and war itself that makes a refugee vulnerable to, for instance, PTSD, but that the flight and/or additional post-migration factors may aggravate the trauma-related symptoms.…”

Pathological Narcissism in Adolescents: Relationships with Childhood Maltreatment and Internalizing and Externalizing Difficulties

“…Maltreatment is recognized as a key factor increasing the risk for all types of psychiatric disorders (Cicchetti & Banny, 2014;Dorahy, Middleton, Seager, Williams, & Chambers, 2016;Dvir, Ford, Hill, & Frazier, 2014). This appears to be the case for depressive and anxiety disorders, as well as for personality disorders such as BPD and non-suicidal self injury (Bégin et al, accepted), and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, which until recently, was considered as primarily genetically determined (Berthelot, Paccalet, et al, 2015).…”

Revisiting the etiological aspects of dissociative identity disorder: a biopsychosocial perspective

“…More severe and earlier-onset child abuse appears to differentiate DID from other disorders 27,28. Large-scale clinical and epidemiological studies in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada have consistently found that DID is linked to antecedent chronic abusive experiences in childhood, typically at the hands of an attachment figure 29–31.…”