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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Dorothy Castille, PhD, Epidemiology of Mental Disorders, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, 100 Haven Avenue, Suite 16D, New York, NY 10032, 212 740-5904 X14, dmc61@columbia.edu, Kristina Muenzenmaier, MD, Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 31 Holly Drive, New Rochelle, NY 10801, and Marian Reiff, PhD, Rehabilitation Medicine, Columbia University, 300 Lincoln Avenue, Haddonfield, NJ 08033.

Prevalence of childhood trauma in people with psychotic symptoms has been largely overlooked. In addition, the symptoms associated with trauma are rarely assessed in people with psychosis. The implication of this oversight is that people with psychotic disorders are rarely diagnosed with co-morbid PTSD and consequently do not receive evidence-based treatment for trauma related symptoms. Objective: This study presents findings from an inner city sample regarding the co-morbidity of PTSD and psychotic symptoms and calls attention to the need for trauma assessment and treatment in this special population. Methods: In this project 187 men and women diagnosed with serious mental illness and receiving outpatient treatment in New York City were asked about traumatic childhood experiences. Results: In the study population, 63.3% of women and 84.6% of men reported childhood experiences of physical abuse; 38.3% of women and 17.3% of men reported childhood experiences of sexual abuse. A preliminary analysis indicates that men and women who experienced both physical and sexual abuse as children reported significantly more current symptoms of trauma as well as psychotic symptoms with content that directed the person to hurt someone else among other symptoms. Conclusions: Symptoms associated with trauma co-occur with psychotic symptoms quite frequently in people with psychotic symptoms. The co-morbidity of psychotic symptoms and symptoms of PTSD challenge mental health care providers to treat both symptom clusters.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will have

• increased awareness of the high prevalence of childhood trauma in persons with psychotic symptoms,
• sharpened diagnositc skills in differentiating symptoms of psychosis, PTSD, and dissociation,
• developed awareness about co-morbidity of psychotic disorders and PTSD.

Keywords: Psychiatric Epidemiology, Co-morbid

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation