Severe abuse in childhood may treble risk of schizophrenia

Research links sexual, physical and emotional abuse, school bullying and parental neglect to schizophrenia in adulthoodChildren who experience severe forms of abuse are around three times as likely to develop schizophrenia and related psychoses in later life as children who do not experience such abuse, according to a study that has brought together psychiatric data from almost 80,000 people.The results add to a growing body of evidence that childhood maltreatment or abuse can raise the risk of developing mental illnesses in adulthood, including depression, personality disorders and anxiety.Prof Richard Bentall of the University of Liverpool's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, who led the study, showed that the risk of developing psychosis increased in line with the amount of abuse or trauma a child had gone through, with the most severely affected children having a 50 times increased risk compared with children who had suffered no abuse. He also showed...

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