Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Feb 2023)
Erroneous Thought in Inpatients with Major Depressive Disorder: The Role of Psychological Trauma During Childhood and Adulthood
Abstract
Chui-De Chiu,1 Li-Shiu Chou,2 Yung-Chi Hsieh,2 Ching-Hua Lin,2 Dian-Jeng Li3,4 1Department of Psychology, Clinical and Health Psychology Centre, and Centre for Cognition and Brain Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin City, Hong Kong; 2Department of Adult Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; 3Department of Addiction Science, Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; 4Department of Nursing, Meiho University, Pingtung, TaiwanCorrespondence: Dian-Jeng Li, Department of Addiction Science, Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital, 130, Kai-Syuan 2nd Road, Ling-Ya District, Kaohsiung, 802, Taiwan, Tel +886-7-751-3171 ext. 2343, Fax +886-7-16-1843, Email [email protected]: The pathogenic role of trauma in psychotic-like experiences has yet to be clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of childhood and adulthood trauma on erroneous thoughts among patients with major depressive disorder.Materials and Methods: Inpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled, and paper-and-pencil questionnaires were applied. Clinical rating and self-reported scales were used to measure levels of depression, dissociation, psychological trauma, parental maltreatment, and erroneous thoughts. Pearson’s correlation analysis was conducted to explore potentially significant associations between erroneous thoughts and other independent variables, and standardized regression coefficients of hierarchical regression analysis were used to predict the significant relationships between erroneous thoughts and adulthood or childhood trauma.Results: A total of 99 participants were included into the analysis, of whom 59 were patients with MDD and 40 were HCs. After treatment, the patients with MDD showed significantly higher levels of depression, childhood maltreatment, interpersonal trauma and erroneous thoughts than the HCs. After estimating and verifying correlations with hierarchical regression among the patients with MDD, a link between adulthood betrayal trauma and higher level of conviction along with the number of erroneous thoughts was found. However, no significant association was identified between childhood trauma and erroneous thought. The concurrent level of depression significantly predicted a higher level of being preoccupied, along with the number of erroneous thoughts.Conclusion: The current study fills a gap in the literature by showing a link between adulthood trauma and erroneous thoughts in non-psychotic patients. Further studies with well-controlled comparisons and prospective cohort with longer follow-up are warranted to extend the applicability and generalizability of the current study.Keywords: depression, erroneous thought, adulthood trauma, childhood trauma, psychiatric inpatient
