Childhood Trauma and Symptoms of Psychological Disorders

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Psychology researchers have conducted many case studies and have spent countless hours reviewing case studies that have already been done to try to find the answer to the question, does childhood trauma cause and effect the symptoms of patients with psychological disorders such as Schizophrenia and Psychosis, or can the trauma cause a patient to have Schizophrenia or Psychosis. Many case studies’ findings state that there is a link. Some studies say only certain symptoms are affected. I want to know what symptoms are affected and what kind of childhood trauma could have possibly affected the symptoms of patients who have been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and Psychosis, or if the childhood trauma could have caused a patient‘s mental illness.

Dictionary.com defines Schizophrenia as “a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.” (“Schizophrenia“). Psychosis is defined in Dictionary.com as “a mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality” (“Psychosis“)

By writing this paper, I hope to help caregivers and doctors who work with psychologically distressed patients, along with family members who live with a patient who has Schizophrenia or Psychosis . By finding what symptoms are heightened, doctors can better treat their patients’ symptoms to help lessen, or eventually cure, the symptom caused by a patient’s childhood trauma. . Caregivers can better understand how to care for their psychologically disordered patients depending on each of the individual patient’s history...

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...n Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 19 Feb 2012.

Lysaker, Paul H., et al. "Reported History of Child Sexual Abuse in Schizophrenia: Associations With Heightened Symptom Levels and Poorer Participation Over Four Months in Vocational Rehabilitation." Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 193(12): 790-795. PsycINFO. Web. 18 Feb. 2012.

"Psychosis." Dictionary.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. .

"Schizophrenia." Dictionary.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. .

Shevlin, Mark, Martin J. Dorahy, and Adamson, Gary. "Trauma and Psychosis: An Analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey." American Journal of Psychiatry 164 (Jan. 2007): 166-169. PsychiatryOnline. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

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