The deleterious effects of childhood trauma are widely known and documented in community samples. Recent studies have shown higher rates of childhood traumatic events in the psychiatric population. These studies suggest that men and women who have experienced childhood trauma and who have severe psychiatric symptoms reliably report their own experiences.

Men and women, (n=184) between the ages of 18-65 years with a history of serious mental illness, capacity to give informed consent, and either English or Spanish fluency, were recruited from various outpatient clinics in New York City. Concepts measured focused on the themes of abusive experiences (psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing domestic violence) and dysfunctional household environment (substance abuse, mental illness, criminal imprisonment of family member). Data were analyzed in SPSS 13.0 using basic descriptive statistics and linear regression models.

Men (70 or 67.3%) reported nearly twice the rate of physical abuse (30.9%) reported by females (P<.001). Of the men and women in the sample, 26.8% reported having had the childhood experience of sexual and physical abuse. A very small percentage of the sample population reported sexual abuse without accompanying physical abuse (11.6%). Psychiatric co-morbidity was assessed with different screening methods including positive and negative psychotic symptoms, PTSD, dissociative symptoms and affective disorders.

The results suggest a close interaction between repetitive childhood trauma and the complexity of symptoms. A re-conceptualization of the diagnostic criteria as complex PTSD is needed to explain this phenomenon.