Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T00:11:23.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Childhood trauma and auditory verbal hallucinations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2012

K. Daalman ,
K. M. J. Diederen ,
E. M. Derks ,
R. van Lutterveld ,
R. S. Kahn  and
Iris E. C. Sommer
K. Daalman*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
K. M. J. Diederen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
E. M. Derks
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
R. van Lutterveld
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
R. S. Kahn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
Iris E. C. Sommer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: K. Daalman, M.Sc., Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, B01.206, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands. (Email: K.Daalman@umcutrecht.nl)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Hallucinations have consistently been associated with traumatic experiences during childhood. This association appears strongest between physical and sexual abuse and auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). It remains unclear whether traumatic experiences mainly colour the content of AVH or whether childhood trauma triggers the vulnerability to experience hallucinations in general. In order to investigate the association between hallucinations, childhood trauma and the emotional content of hallucinations, experienced trauma and phenomenology of AVH were investigated in non-psychotic individuals and in patients with a psychotic disorder who hear voices.

Method

A total of 127 non-psychotic individuals with frequent AVH, 124 healthy controls and 100 psychotic patients with AVH were assessed for childhood trauma. Prevalence of childhood trauma was compared between groups and the relation between characteristics of voices, especially emotional valence of content, and childhood trauma was investigated.

Results

Both non-psychotic individuals with AVH and patients with a psychotic disorder and AVH experienced more sexual and emotional abuse compared with the healthy controls. No difference in the prevalence of traumatic experiences could be observed between the two groups experiencing AVH. In addition, no type of childhood trauma could distinguish between positive or negative emotional valence of the voices and associated distress. No correlations were found between sexual abuse and emotional abuse and other AVH characteristics.

Conclusions

These results suggest that sexual and emotional trauma during childhood render a person more vulnerable to experience AVH in general, which can be either positive voices without associated distress or negative voices as part of a psychotic disorder.

Keywords

Auditory verbal hallucinationschildhood traumanon-psychotic individualspsychosis
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 42 , Issue 12 , December 2012 , pp. 2475 - 2484
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, SL, Tomoda, A, Vincow, ES, Valente, E, Polcari, A, Teicher, MH (2008). Preliminary evidence for sensitive periods in the effect of childhood sexual abuse on regional brain development. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 20, 292–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andreasen, NC, Flaum, M, Arndt, S (1992). The Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History (CASH). An instrument for assessing diagnosis and psychopathology. Archives of General Psychiatry 49, 615–623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrew, EM, Gray, NS, Snowden, RJ (2008). The relationship between trauma and beliefs about hearing voices: a study of psychiatric and non-psychiatric voice hearers. Psychological Medicine 38, 1409–1417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Badcock, JC, Waters, FAV, Maybery, MT, Michie, PT (2005). Auditory hallucinations: failure to inhibit irrelevant memories. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 10, 125–136.Google ScholarPubMed
Bauer, EP, Paz, R, Paré, D (2007). Gamma oscillations coordinate amygdalo-rhinal interactions during learning. Journal of Neuroscience 27, 9369–9379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beavan, V, Read, J, Cartwright, C (2011). The prevalence of voice-hearers in the general population: a literature review. Journal of Mental Health 20, 281–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, D, Fink, L (1998). Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: A Retrospective Self-Report. The Psychological Corporation: San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
Bernstein, DP, Fink, L, Handelsman, L, Foote, J, Lovejoy, M, Wenzel, K, Sapareto, E, Ruggiero, J (1994). Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect. American Journal of Psychiatry 151, 1132–1136.Google ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, DP, Stein, JA, Newcomb, MD, Walker, E, Pogge, D, Ahluvalia, T, Stokes, J, Handelsman, L, Medrano, M, Desmond, D, Zule, W (2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse & Neglect 27, 169–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birchwood, M, Meaden, A, Trower, P, Gilbert, P, Plaistow, J (2000). The power and omnipotence of voices: subordination and entrapment by voices and significant others. Psychological Medicine 30, 337–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brill, N, Reichenberg, A, Rabinowitz, J, Harary, E, Lubin, G, Davidson, M, Weiser, M (2007). Accuracy of self-reported premorbid functioning in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 97, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daalman, K, Boks, MPM, Diederen, KMJ, de Weijer, AD, Blom, JD, Kahn, RS, Sommer, IEC (2011 a). The same or different? A phenomenological comparison of auditory verbal hallucinations in healthy and psychotic individuals. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 72, 320–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daalman, K, van Zandvoort, M, Bootsman, F, Boks, MPM, Kahn, RS, Sommer, IEC (2011 b). Auditory verbal hallucinations and cognitive functioning in healthy individuals. Schizophrenia Research 132, 203–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Weijer, AD, Mandl, RC, Diederen, KM, Neggers, SF, Kahn, RS, Hulshoff Pol, HE, Sommer, IE (2011). Microstructural alterations of the arcuate fasciculus in schizophrenia patients with frequent auditory verbal hallucinations. Schizophrenia Research 130, 68–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diederen, KMJ, Neggers, SFW, Daalman, K, Blom, JD, Kahn, RS, Sommer, IE(2010 a). Deactivation of the parahippocampal gyrus preceding auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 167, 427–435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diederen, KM, De Weijer, AD, Daalman, K, Blom, JD, Neggers, SF, Kahn, RS, Sommer, IE (2010 b). Decreased language lateralization is characteristic of psychosis, not auditory hallucinations. Brain 133, 3734–3744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ensink, B (1992). Confusing Realities: A Study of Child Sexual Abuse and Psychiatric Symptoms. VU University Press: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Famularo, R, Kinscherff, R, Fenton, T (1992). Psychiatric diagnoses of maltreated children: preliminary findings. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 31, 863–867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBW (1995). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II). Part 1: Description. Journal of Personality Disorders 9, 83–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garety, PA, Kuipers, E, Fowler, D, Freeman, D, Bebbington, PE (2001). A cognitive model of the positive symptoms of psychosis. Psychological Medicine 31, 189–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldman, JDG, Padayachi, UK (2000). Some methodological problems in estimating incidence and prevalence in child sexual abuse research. Journal of Sex Research 37, 305–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, KR (1996). The childhood victimization of sex offenders: an underestimated issue. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 3, 192–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddock, G, McCarron, J, Tarrier, N, Faragher, EB (1999). Scales to measure dimensions of hallucinations and delusions: the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS). Psychological Medicine 29, 879–889.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammersley, P, Dias, A, Todd, G, Bowen-Jones, K, Reilly, B, Bentall, R (2003). Childhood traumas and hallucinations in bipolar affective disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry 182, 543–547.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardy, A, Fowler, D, Freeman, D, Smith, B, Steel, C, Evans, J, Garety, P, Kuipers, E, Bebbington, P, Dunn, G (2005). Trauma and hallucinatory experience in psychosis. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 193, 501–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heim, C, Newport, DJ, Heit, S, Graham, YP, Wilcox, M, Bonsall, R, Miller, AH, Nemeroff, CB (2000). Pituitary–adrenal and autonomic responses to stress in women after sexual and physical abuse in childhood. Journal of the American Medical Association 284, 592–597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoffman, RE, Anderson, AW, Varanko, M, Gore, JC, Hampson, M (2008). Time course of regional brain activation associated with onset of auditory/verbal hallucinations. British Journal of Psychiatry 193, 424–425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honig, A, Romme, MAJ, Ensink, BJ, Escher, SDMA, Pennings, MHA, De Vries, MW (1998). Auditory hallucinations: a comparison between patients and nonpatients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 186, 646–651.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janssen, I, Krabbendam, L, Bak, M, Hanssen, M, Vollebergh, W, de Graaf, R, van Os, J (2004). Childhood abuse as a risk factor for psychotic experiences. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 190, 38–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jardri, R, Pouchet, A, Pins, D, Thomas, P (2011). Cortical activations during auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia: a coordinate-based meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry 168, 73–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, SR (2010). Do we need multiple models of auditory verbal hallucinations? Examining the phenomenological fit of cognitive and neurological models. Schizophrenia Bulletin 36, 566–575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leuner, B, Gould, E (2010). Structural plasticity and hippocampal function. Annual Review of Psychology 61, 111–C3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCarthy-Jones, S (2011). Voices from the storm: a critical review of quantitative studies of auditory verbal hallucinations and childhood sexual abuse. Clinical Psychology Review 31, 983–992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, AP, Haddock, G (1997). Cognitive factors in source monitoring and auditory hallucinations. Psychological Medicine 27, 669–679.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Offen, L, Waller, G, Thomas, G (2003). Is reported childhood sexual abuse associated with the psychopathological characteristics of patients who experience auditory hallucinations? Child Abuse & Neglect 27, 919–927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, BD (1994). Neurobiological sequelae of childhood trauma: PTSD in children. In Catecholamines in Post-Traumatic Stress-Disorder (ed. Murberg, M.), pp. 233–255. American Psychiatric Press: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Read, J (1997). Child abuse and psychosis: a literature review and implications for professional practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 28, 448–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, J, Argyle, N (1999). Hallucinations, delusions and thought disorder among adult psychiatric in patients with a history of child abuse. Psychiatric Services 50, 1467–1472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Read, J, Fraser, A (1998). Abuse histories of psychiatric inpatients: to ask or not to ask. Psychiatric Services 49, 355–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Read, J, Perry, B, Boskowitz, A, Connolly, J (2001). The contribution of early traumatic events to schizophrenia in some patients: a traumagenic neurodevelopmental model. Psychiatry 64, 319–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Read, J, van Os, J, Morrison, AP, Ross, CA (2005). Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: a literature review with theoretical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 112, 330–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ross, CA, Anderson, G, Clark, P (1994). Childhood abuse and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Hospital & Community Psychiatry 45, 489–491.Google ScholarPubMed
Sansonnet-Hayden, H, Haley, G, Marriage, K, Fine, S (1987). Sexual abuse and psychopathology in hospitalized adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 26, 753–757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sommer, IE, Daalman, K, Rietkerk, T, Diederen, KM, Bakker, S, Wijkstra, J, Boks, MPM (2010). Healthy individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations; who are they? Psychiatric assessments of a selected sample of 103 subjects. Schizophrenia Bulletin 36, 633–641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Lutterveld, R, Oranje, B, Kemner, C, Abramovic, L, Willems, AE, Boks, MP, Glenthøj, BY, Kahn, RS, Sommer, IE (2010). Increased psychophysiological parameters of attention in non-psychotic individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations. Schizophrenia Research 121, 153–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Varese, F, Barkus, E, Bentall, RP (2011). Dissociation mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and hallucination-proneness. Psychological Medicine. Published online: 6 September 2011. doi:10.1017/S0033291711001826.Google ScholarPubMed
Walker, EF, DiForio, D (1997). Schizophrenia: a neural diathesis–stress model. Psychological Review 104, 667–685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waters, FAV, Badcock, JC, Maybery, MT, Michie, PT (2003). Inhibition in schizophrenia: association with auditory hallucinations. Schizophrenia Research 62, 275–280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed