Scientists from the University of Hertfordshire found a strong link between childhood emotional abuse and schizophrenia-like experiences in healthy adults, such as paranoia, hearing voices, and social withdrawal.
Researchers say that those who have experienced emotional abuse in early life are 3.5 times more likely to have schizophrenia-like experiences in adulthood.
Researchers also say that the stronger the abuse, the more severe the schizophrenia-like experiences adults have.
The research is published in PLOS ONE and was conducted by Dr. Diamantis Toutountzidis et al.
In the study, the team reviewed studies (25 in total) that have explored the relationship between childhood trauma and schizophrenia-like experiences in over 15,000 healthy people.
They aimed to see whether specific types of abuse, such as emotional, sexual and physical abuse, as well as emotional and physical neglect, increased the likelihood of having schizophrenia-like experiences in later life.
The team found a much stronger link between childhood emotional abuse and schizophrenic-like experiences in adulthood than other types of childhood abuse.
Researchers believe their findings could show that schizophrenia is a condition on a spectrum, like autism, where healthy people can have schizophrenia-like episodes without meeting the diagnosable threshold.
The team says that emotional abuse differs from other types of abuse. It is more common, often happens over longer periods of time, and is not treated in law the same way that physical or sexual abuse is.
This is something mental health professionals should consider when looking to tackle the root causes of schizophrenia-like experiences in people suffering from them.
This research has opened the door to future studies that help better understand how specific types of childhood abuse are linked to specific schizophrenia-like experiences much later in life.
It will also help scientists start to understand why such trauma is linked to disorders like schizophrenia in some, while others experience milder manageable experiences.
If you care about schizophrenia, please read studies about a new cause of schizophrenia, and
this personality was linked to big risk of schizophrenia.
For more information about mental health, please see recent studies about 10 mental illness signs you should not ignore, and results showing why anxiety is not a mental health problem.
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