The role of attachment and dissociation in the relationship between childhood interpersonal trauma and negative symptoms in psychosis

Clin Psychol Psychother. 2022 Feb 25. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2731. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTNegative symptoms have an adverse impact on quality of life and functioning in psychosis. Service users with psychosis have identified negative symptoms as a priority for their recovery. Despite this, there is a lack of effective and targeted psychological interventions for negative symptoms and their underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Childhood trauma is a robust risk factor for positive symptoms in psychosis, but the association with negative symptoms is less well established. Our aim was to examine the association between childhood interpersonal trauma and negative symptoms, and the psychological mediators of this relationship. Two hundred and forty participants experiencing psychosis completed validated self-report measures of childhood trauma, attachment, dissociation, compartmentalisation, and symptoms. Mediation analyses showed that disorganised attachment and dissociative experiences mediated the association between childhood trauma and negative symptoms, when analysed individually and in a combined model. Models adjusted for age, and positive and depressive symptoms. Avoidant attachment and compartmentalisation were independently associated with negative symptoms but not childhood trauma, and thus were not significant mediators. Childhood trauma was not independently associated with negative symptoms. This paper is the first to present empirical data to support a m...
Source: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: research