Child Abuse Negl. 2005 Jul;29(7):797-810.

Adverse childhood experiences and hallucinations.

Whitfield CL, Dube SR, Felitti VJ, Anda RF.

Private Practice in Addiction and Trauma Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

OBJECTIVE:: Little information is available about the contribution of
multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to the likelihood of
reporting hallucinations. We used data from the ACE study to assess
this relationship. METHODS:: We conducted a survey about childhood
abuse and household dysfunction while growing up, with questions about
health behaviors and outcomes in adulthood, which was completed by
17,337 adult HMO members in order to assess the independent
relationship of 8 adverse childhood experiences and the total number
of ACEs (ACE score) to experiencing hallucinations. We used logistic
regression to assess the relationship of the ACE score to
self-reported hallucinations. RESULTS:: We found a statistically
significant and graded relationship between histories of childhood
trauma and histories of hallucinations that was independent of a
history of substance abuse. Compared to persons with 0 ACEs, those
with 7 or more ACEs had a five-fold increase in the risk of reporting
hallucinations. CONCLUSION:: These findings suggest that a history of
childhood trauma should be looked for among persons with a history of
hallucinations.

PMID: 16051353 [PubMed - in process]

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