1807 – Influence of childhood trauma in the cognitive biases implicated in pathogenesis of delusional disorder

Abstract

Introduction There exists evidence about the presence of Childhood Trauma (CT) being implicated in pathogenesis of Delusional Disorder (DD). Objectives Investigate de influence of CT in the cognitive biases (attentional bias, jumping-to-conclusions, personalizing attributional bias, need-for-closure and “self” discrepancies) and in the social cognition alterations (theory-of-mind and facial emotion recognition deficits) which have been postulated to be implicated in formation and maintenance of DD. Methods Childhood Trauma was measured using the “Childhood Trauma Questionaire” in 64 patients (n=64) diagnosed with DD by the SCID-I (DSM-IV-TR). The cognitive biases were evaluated using specific scales (“Emotional Stroop”, “Experimental Beads Task”, “Need-for-Closure Scale”, “Internal, Personal and Situational Attributions Questionnaire” and “Personal Qualities Questionnaire”). Social Cognition was evaluated using a theory-of-mind task (“Faux-Pas”) and a facial recognizing task (“Eyes Test”). The relationship between CT and those anomalies were examined using lineal regression models controlled by sociodemographic characteristics, premorbid IQ (“National Adult Reading Test”), delusion intensity (“Maudsley Assessment of Delusion Schedule”), depression intensity (“Beck Depression Inventory”) and neuropsychological function (attention, verbal learning, working memory and executive function; measured by a extensive neuropsychological assesment). Results High scores in CT were significantly associated with low scores in Faux-Pas task after being adjusted by the delusion and depression intensity, executive function and antipsycothic medication dose. Conclusions The severity of Childhood Trauma in patients with DD is related to theory-of-mind deficits, a social cognitive function which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of the Delusional Disorder.