Abstract
Numerous studies have researched the aggravating and maintainer effect of Early Life Stress in patients adults with psychiatric disorders. This study examined the relationship between depression and subtypes of early life stress among 81 psychiatric patients treated at the inpatient Day Hospital Unit of a University General Hospital. Psychiatric diagnosis was confirmed according to the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used for evaluating as retrospective assessment of the presence of ELS on these patients, and we also evaluated the severity of hopelessness with the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). Our results suggested that the occurrence of depression in adulthood is related to situations of emotional abuse, sexual, and physical neglect during childhood. The analysis between depression and childhood emotional abuse was significant after a multiple logistic regression analysis OR (IC 95%): 4.4 (1.7–11.2), even accounting for gender adjusted OR [AOR] 4.0; (IC 1.5–10.5); psychiatry family history AOR 3.8 (1.4–10.5); previous suicide attempted AOR 3.7; (1.4–10.5) and Hopelessness AOR 3.2 (1.11–9.4). Thus, these findings demonstrate emotional abuse as a significant risk factor to be part of the mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of depression related to early life stress.
Highlights
Recent studies have examined the effect of stress in the early stages of development of the individual demonstrating that when stress occurs early, can lead to “biological scars” lifelong [1]
We evaluated the severity of hopelessness with the Beck Hopelessness Scale [BHS; [30]]
The relationship with physical neglect, demonstrated a trend (p = 0.08). These data indicate that the occurrence of depression in adulthood is related to situations of emotional abuse, sexual and physical neglect during childhood
Summary
Recent studies have examined the effect of stress in the early stages of development of the individual demonstrating that when stress occurs early, can lead to “biological scars” lifelong [1]. The Early Life Stress (ELS) is a variety of traumatic experiences that can occur during childhood and adolescence, such as abuse, neglect, parental loss, divorce of parents, caregivers with psychiatric disorders, childhood disease involving prolonged hospitalizations, lack of primary care, abandonment, deprivation of food, and adequate shelter, lack of encouragement and support, as well as family violence [2, 3]. In the systematic review we conducted [8] the data demonstrated that individual exposure to adversities in childhood and adolescence is predictive of psychiatric disorders in adulthood, such as depression and borderline personality disorder.
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