Effects of childhood abuse on major depressive disorder

Abstract

Objective: Childhood trauma is a significant risk factor for major depressive disorder, which has a multifactorial etiology. We investigated the effects of childhood trauma, especially physical and sexual abuse, on depression later in adult life.

Methods: The study included 87 patients with depression and 87 healthy volunteers. Participants were asked to fill out the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Anxiety. We have used the three childhood trauma pattern groups by their CTQ scores. The first group consisted participants who did not report any childhood abuse. The second group comprised participants who had experienced emotional abuse and emotional or physical neglect. The third group included participants who reported physical and sexual abuse.

Results: Approximately half of pattern groups 1 and 2 consisted of healthy controls. However, all of the participants who were in pattern group 3 had major depressive disorder. Anxiety and depression levels both had positive correlations with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. There was a statistically significant difference between pattern groups 2 and 3 in all of the five categories of CTQ.

Conclusion: In our study, we found that incidences of physical and sexual abuse increase the risk of depression. Furthermore, they indicate an increased risk for a relationship that consists of emotional neglect and abuse, which is an independent risk factor for major depressive disorder. Therefore, we should not only focus on the individual traumas on childhood trauma cases but also consider if there is a defective pattern of relationship.