Evidence that environmental and genetic risks for psychotic disorder may operate by impacting on connections between core symptoms of perceptual alteration and delusional ideation.

BACKGROUND: Relational models of psychopathology propose that symptoms are dynamically connected and hypothesize that genetic and environmental influences moderate the strength of these symptom connections. Previous findings suggest that the interplay between hallucinations and delusions may play a crucial role in the development of psychotic disorder. The current study examined whether the connection between hallucinations and delusions is impacted by proxy genetic and environmental risk factors. METHODS: Hallucinations and delusions at baseline and at 3-year follow-up were assessed in a sample of 1054 healthy siblings and 918 parents of 1109 patients with psychosis, and in 589 healthy controls (no familial psychosis risk). Environmental factors assessed were cannabis use, childhood trauma, and urbanicity during childhood. Logistic regression analyses tested whether familial psychosis risk predicted increased risk of delusions, given presence of hallucinations. Moderating effects of environmental factors on the hallucination-delusion association were tested in a similar fashion, restricted to the control and sibling groups. RESULTS: The risk of delusions, given hallucinations, was associated with proxy genetic risk: 53% in parents, 47% in siblings, and 36% in controls. The hallucination-delusion association was stronger in those reporting cannabis use (risk difference: 32%) and childhood trauma (risk difference: 15%) although not all associations were statistically conclusive (respectively: p = .037; p = .054). A directionally similar but nonsignificant effect was found for urb anicity during childhood (risk difference: 14%, p =.357). CONCLUSION: The strength of the connection between delusions and hallucinations is associated with familial and environmental risks for psychotic disorder, suggesting that specific symptom connections in the early psychosis psychopathology network are informative of underlying mechanisms.

Why clinicians do not implement integrated treatment for comorbid substance use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare providers working in addiction facilities do not often implement integrated treatment of comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while there is empirical evidence to do so. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to get insight into the views of clinicians with regard to the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD in SUD patients. METHOD: A qualitative research method was chosen. Fourteen treatment staff members of different wards of an addiction care facility were interviewed by an independent interviewer. RESULTS: Despite acknowledging adverse consequences of trauma exposure on SUD, severe underdiagnosis of PTSD was mentioned and treatment of PTSD during SUD treatment was not supported. Obstacles related to the underestimation of PTSD among SUD patients and to the perceptions of SUD clinicians concerning the treatment of comorbid SUD/PTSD were reported. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that SUD facilities should train their clinicians to enable them to provide for integrated treatment of SUD/PTSD.

Psychopathological mechanisms linking childhood traumatic experiences to risk of psychotic symptoms: analysis of a large, representative population-based sample.

BACKGROUND: Different psychological models of trauma-induced psychosis have been postulated, often based on the observation of "specific" associations between particular types of childhood trauma (CT) and particular psychotic symptoms or the co-occurrence of delusions and hallucinations. However, the actual specificity of these associations remains to be tested. METHODS: In 2 population-based studies with comparable methodology (Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-1 [NEMESIS-1] and NEMESIS-2, N = 13 722), trained interviewers assessed CT, psychotic symptoms, and other psychopathology. Specificity of associations was assessed with mixed-effects regression models with multiple outcomes, a statistical method suitable to examine specificity of associations in case of multiple correlated outcomes. RESULTS: Associations with CT were strong and significant across the entire range of psychotic symptoms, without evidence for specificity in the relationship between particular trauma variables and particular psychotic experiences (PEs). Abuse and neglect were both associated with PEs (OR abuse: 2.12, P < .001; OR neglect: 1.96, P < .001), with no large or significant difference in effect size. Intention-to-harm experiences showed stronger associations with psychosis than CT without intent (χ(2) = 58.62, P < .001). Most trauma variables increased the likelihood of co-occurrence of delusions and hallucinations rather than either symptom in isolation. DISCUSSION: Intention to harm is the key component linking childhood traumatic experiences to psychosis, most likely characterized by co-occurrence of hallucinations and delusions, indicating buildup of psychotic intensification, rather than specific psychotic symptoms in isolation. No evidence was found to support psychological theories regarding specific associations between particular types of CT and particular psychotic symptoms.

Evidence that onset of psychosis in the population reflects early hallucinatory experiences that through environmental risks and affective dysregulation become complicated by delusions.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the hypothesis that the "natural" combination of delusions and hallucinations in psychotic disorders in fact represents a selection of early subclinical hallucinatory experiences associated with delusional ideation, resulting in need for care and mental health service use. METHODS: In the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology study, a prospective, 10-year follow-up of a representative cohort of adolescents and young adults in Munich, Germany (n = 2524), clinical psychologists assessed hallucinations and delusions at 2 time points (T2 and T3). Analyses compared differences in psychopathology, familial liability for nonpsychotic disorder, nongenetic risk factors, persistence, and clinical outcome between groups characterized by: (1) absence of positive psychotic symptoms, (2) presence of isolated hallucinations, (3) isolated delusions, and (4) both hallucinations and delusions. RESULTS: Delusions and hallucinations occurred together much more often (T2: 3.1%; T3: 2.0%) than predicted by chance (T2: 1.0%; T3: 0.4%; OR = 11.0; 95% CI: 8.1, 15.1). Content of delusions was contingent on presence of hallucinations but modality of hallucinations was not contingent on presence of delusions. The group with both hallucinations and delusions, compared to groups with either delusions or hallucinations in isolation, displayed the strongest associations with familial affective liability and nongenetic risk factors, as well as with persistence of psychotic symptoms, comorbidity with negative symptoms, affective psychopathology, and clinical need. CONCLUSIONS: The early stages of psychosis may involve hallucinatory experiences that, if complicated by delusional ideation under the influence of environmental risks and (liability for) affective dysregulation, give rise to a poor prognosis hallucinatory-delusional syndrome.

Childhood adversities increase the risk of psychosis: a meta-analysis of patient-control, prospective- and cross-sectional cohort studies.

Evidence suggests that adverse experiences in childhood are associated with psychosis. To examine the association between childhood adversity and trauma (sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, parental death, and bullying) and psychosis outcome, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, and Web of Science were searched from January 1980 through November 2011. We included prospective cohort studies, large-scale cross-sectional studies investigating the association between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms or illness, case-control studies comparing the prevalence of adverse events between psychotic patients and controls using dichotomous or continuous measures, and case-control studies comparing the prevalence of psychotic symptoms between exposed and nonexposed subjects using dichotomous or continuous measures of adversity and psychosis. The analysis included 18 case-control studies (n = 2048 psychotic patients and 1856 nonpsychiatric controls), 10 prospective and quasi-prospective studies (n = 41,803) and 8 population-based cross-sectional studies (n = 35,546). There were significant associations between adversity and psychosis across all research designs, with an overall effect of OR = 2.78 (95% CI = 2.34-3.31). The integration of the case-control studies indicated that patients with psychosis were 2.72 times more likely to have been exposed to childhood adversity than controls (95% CI = 1.90-3.88). The association between childhood adversity and psychosis was also significant in population-based cross-sectional studies (OR = 2.99 [95% CI = 2.12-4.20]) as well as in prospective and quasi-prospective studies (OR = 2.75 [95% CI = 2.17-3.47]). The estimated population attributable risk was 33% (16%-47%). These findings indicate that childhood adversity is strongly associated with increased risk for psychosis.