The Effects of Childhood Trauma on Executive Functioning in Psychotic Disorder Patients

Abstract

Approximately one in 150 people in the general population will develop a psychotic disorder during their lifetime. These disorders have far-reaching consequences for psychosocial functioning, such as problems at work, less social contacts, difficulty maintaining relationships, and/or problems at work. Furthermore, psychotic disorders reduce the life expectancy by 20 – 25 years. Not much is known about what factors can have a beneficial outcome on functional recovery (FR) in psychotic disorder patients. One of the underlying factors of FR is executive functioning (EF) and it seems to be influenced by childhood trauma (CT) and this possibly through adulthood trauma (AT). The current study aimed to investigate whether the effects of CT on EF in patients with psychotic disorders and whether this relationship is affected by AT. The data used was collected as part of the UPS-study, a large cohort study on recovery from psychotic disorders. EF was assessed using the BRIEF-A, CT and AT were assessed using the ACE. The study included 228 participants. The total scores on the BRIEF-A and the ACE CT had a significant negative association. However, the addition of the moderator AT did not increase this association. A significant negative relationship between CT and EF was found, meaning that a higher score on CT is correlated to lower EF. There was no evidence found that this relationship was better explained by AT.