These results suggest that early trauma and current stress impact features of schizophrenia, consistent with stress sensitization and increased dopamine activity for treatment refractory positive symptoms, as well as the cascade of increased morning cortisol, reduced brain volumes, and depressive and deficit symptoms.
Conversely, cognitive deficits and negative symptoms may arise from a distinct process.
The sex differences accord with the literature on human HPA function and stress responses.
Early trauma may be a stressor in the development of schizophrenia, particularly for cases with untreated or poorly managed positive symptoms, and may guide future treatment development.
But is there already a bullet in the gun with abuse/trauma being the pulling of the trigger? What are the explanations why some abused/ traumatised people develop psychosis and others don’t? I often come back to the stress-vulnerability model when pondering this question.
Absolutely - lots of people have very stressful or traumatic childhoods - but only a small percentage develop serious mental illness. The combination of genes plus the environment are what together cause the issues.