Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Division, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Psychol Med. 2012 Dec;42(12):2475-84. doi: 10.1017/S0033291712000761. Epub 2012 Apr 16.
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.
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.
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.
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.
幻觉一直与儿童时期的创伤经历有关。这种关联在身体和性虐待与听觉言语幻觉（AVH）之间似乎最为强烈。目前尚不清楚创伤经历是主要影响 AVH 的内容，还是童年创伤引发了一般体验幻觉的易感性。为了研究幻觉、童年创伤以及幻觉的情绪内容之间的关联，我们在非精神病个体以及患有幻听的精神病患者中调查了经历的创伤和 AVH 的现象学。
共评估了 127 名经常出现 AVH 的非精神病个体、124 名健康对照者和 100 名患有 AVH 的精神病患者的童年创伤。比较了各组之间童年创伤的患病率，并调查了声音的特征，特别是内容的情绪效价，与童年创伤之间的关系。
出现 AVH 的非精神病个体和精神病患者都经历了更多的性虐待和情感虐待，与健康对照组相比。两组出现 AVH 的患者之间，创伤经历的患病率没有差异。此外，没有任何一种童年创伤可以区分声音的正负情绪效价和相关的痛苦。性虐待和情感虐待与其他 AVH 特征之间没有相关性。
这些结果表明，儿童时期的性和情感创伤使人更容易普遍体验 AVH，既可以是没有相关痛苦的正性声音，也可以是精神病的一部分的负性声音。
