What is it about?
Treating psychiatric illness is complicated because patients have complicated lives. We showed that in our department, people seeking treatment for psychiatric illness often had experienced childhood abuse, neglect or loss and that childhood adversity was associated with many other characteristics that make living with psychiatric illness (and treating it) complex. It was linked to having several diagnoses, being impulsive, experiencing stigma, self-harm, inadequate housing, isolation and other things that make it hard to get better.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The complex circumstances of people with mental illness suggest that optimal treatment must go beyond treatment guidelines for particular diagnoses. Asking patients about childhood adversity serves as a marker for many contributors to complexity and may help to understand how their problems first developed.
Perspectives
We understand childhood adversity as a "cause of causes" of complexity. It is extremely common among people with chronic illnesses, especially mental illnesses, and should be part the discussion between healthcare providers and patients.
Robert Maunder
University of Toronto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity and Other Aspects of Clinical Complexity in Psychiatric Outpatients, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, July 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0886260519865968.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
