The traumagenic neurodevelopmental model of psychosis revisited

Abstract

SummaryEvidence that childhood adversities are risk factors for psychosis has accumulated rapidly. Research into the mechanisms underlying these relationships has focused, productively, on psychological processes, including cognition, attachment and dissociation. In 2001, the traumagenic neurodevelopmental model sought to integrate biological and psychological research by highlighting the similarities between the structural and functional abnormalities in the brains of abused children and adults diagnosed with

The Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Violence to Others in Individuals With Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…substance misuse Repetti, Taylor, & Seeman, 2002). Similar factors are implicated in traumagenic developmental models of psychotic symptoms (Read et al, 2014;Read et al, 2001) and may be associated with an increased sense of threat or persecution. It is plausible that the relationship between early maltreatment and violence is mediated by the development of psychotic symptoms in this population, particularly given the suggestion that early maltreatment is associated with positive symptoms with persecutory or negative themes (Reiff, Castille, Muenzenmaier, & Link, 2012).…”

“…Early maltreatment has been found to be particularly associated with positive symptoms, including persecutory ideation (Freeman & Fowler, 2009) and hallucinatory experiences (Read, Perry, Moskowitz, & Connolly, 2001). Neurodevelopmental models suggest that the experience of extreme stressors during periods of neurological development can result in an increase in the sensitivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and an exaggerated autonomic response to perceived threats, which can persist into adulthood (Heim et al, 2002), several authors have suggested that this heightened stress response may contribute to or reinforce paranoid ideation in individuals with psychosis (Read, Fosse, Moskowitz, & Perry, 2014). Dysregulation of the HPA axis is associated with abnormalities in the neurotransmitter dopamine (including increased dopamine receptor density and dopamine release), an excess of dopamine is classically associated with schizophrenic illnesses (Guillin, Abi-Dargham, & Laruelle, 2007).…”

Developing schizophrenia

“…Nevertheless, researchers acknowledge that neural systems continuously enable (albeit not simply cause - Harre, 2002) all psychological phenomena, and this provides the basis for collaborations and, in some cases, models that combine psychological and neuroscientific influences (Bentall, 2003). For example, Read's traumagenic neurodevelopmental model (Read, Fosse, Moskowitz, & Perry, 2014) recasts the various discrepant brain features sometimes observed amongst people given psychoticspectrum diagnoses as injuries, caused by (predominantly early) trauma. The model embraces current neuroscientific evidence regarding brain development and the functions of different regions and systems, drawing upon imaging and related studies to demonstrate the many similarities between the brains of abused and neglected children and the brains of some people given diagnoses of schizophrenia.…”

Hearing voices, dissociation, and the self: A functional-analytic perspective

“…The relationship between these variables is supported by psychophysiological evidence that specific brain features (e.g. overactive HPA axis) are shared by individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and children with a trauma history (Read, Fosse, Moskowitz, & Perry, 2014).…”