Official reports indicate that the overall prevalence of lifetime childhood maltreatment has been estimated to be 30% in population-based samples and the association between childhood trauma, suicide behaviors and psychiatric disorders was previously shown.

The objective of the current study was to assess the presence and severity of ‘male’ depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors in psychiatric patients who reported history of child abuse and neglect on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ)

To study the association between childhood trauma, suicidal behaviors and non-typical depressive symptoms.

163 adult inpatients were enrolled in the current study and completed the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Gotland Scale of Male Depression, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Suicidal History Self-Rating Screening Scale.

The group with no or minimal history of child abuse and neglect (N = 98) was characterized by lower scores on all the dimensions of the CTQ and higher scores on minimization/denial than the group with moderate to severe history of child abuse and neglect (N = 64). Furthermore patients with moderate to severe history of child abuse and neglect were more often females (62.5%), reported more severe ‘male’ depressive symptoms (20.82±10.12, t160 = −3.675, p-value < 0.001) and higher SHSS scores (6.90±4.49, t160 = −2.68, p-value 0.01).

Our data highlight the association between several childhood trauma and ‘male’ depression in both male and female patients. Furthermore Childhood trauma may be a risk factor for suicide attempts. Further researches are needed to clarify this issue.