The association between childhood trauma, parental bonding and depressive symptoms and interpersonal functioning in depression and bipolar disorder.

Objectives: This study explores rates of a history of childhood trauma in adult patients with bipolar disorder and depression and the impact of such trauma and parental bonding patterns on depressive mood and interpersonal functioning at the time of assessment.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used and a sample of 49 participants was recruited from a mental health outpatient service in Northern Ireland. Data were subject to correlations, one-way analysis of variance and hierarchal regression analyses.

Reliability of reports of childhood trauma in bipolar disorder: A test-retest study over 18 months.

This study aimed to explore the reliability of self-reported trauma histories in a population with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Previous studies in other populations suggest high reliability of trauma histories over time, and it was postulated that a similar high reliability would be demonstrated in this population. A total of 39 patients with a confirmed diagnosis (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, criteria) were followed up and readministered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire after 18 months.

Enquiring about traumatic experiences in bipolar disorder: a case note and self- report comparison.

Objectives: This study examined: (i) the prevalence of lifetime trauma, childhood trauma and trauma related to civil unrest in a Bipolar Disorder sample, and (ii) the agreement between rates of disclosure of trauma in case notes and self-report questionnaires.

Methods: The case notes of sixty participants, recruited from a geographically well-defined mental health service in Northern Ireland, were examined for reports of experiences of lifetime, childhood and traumatic events related to civil conflict. The participants also completed self-report measures of trauma.

Autobiographical memory specificity, depression, and trauma in bipolar disorder.

Objectives: In a bipolar disorder (BD) sample, the present study investigated: (i) the prevalence of trauma; (ii) the specificity of autobiographical memory (AM); (iii) the influence of childhood trauma on AM specificity, current inter-episode depressive mood, and BD severity; (iv) if AM specificity moderates the influence of childhood trauma on current inter-episode depressive mood and BD severity.

Methods: Fifty-two participants were recruited from a geographically well-defined mental health service in Northern Ireland. The AM test, self-report measures of lifetime experience of trauma, childhood trauma, and depression were administered.

Errorless learning and memory performance in schizophrenia.

There is evidence that patients with schizophrenia have impaired explicit memory and intact implicit memory. The present study sought to replicate and extend that of O'Carroll et al. [O'Carroll, R.