Evidence that environmental and genetic risks for psychotic disorder may operate by impacting on connections between core symptoms of perceptual alteration and delusional ideation.

Background: Relational models of psychopathology propose that symptoms are dynamically connected and hypothesize that genetic and environmental influences moderate the strength of these symptom connections. Previous findings suggest that the interplay between hallucinations and delusions may play a crucial role in the development of psychotic disorder. The current study examined whether the connection between hallucinations and delusions is impacted by proxy genetic and environmental risk factors.

Psychopathological mechanisms linking childhood traumatic experiences to risk of psychotic symptoms: analysis of a large, representative population-based sample.

Background: Different psychological models of trauma-induced psychosis have been postulated, often based on the observation of "specific" associations between particular types of childhood trauma (CT) and particular psychotic symptoms or the co-occurrence of delusions and hallucinations. However, the actual specificity of these associations remains to be tested.

Methods: In 2 population-based studies with comparable methodology (Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-1 [NEMESIS-1] and NEMESIS-2, N = 13 722), trained interviewers assessed CT, psychotic symptoms, and other psychopathology.

Why clinicians do not implement integrated treatment for comorbid substance use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: a qualitative study.

Background: Healthcare providers working in addiction facilities do not often implement integrated treatment of comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while there is empirical evidence to do so.

Objective: This study aims to get insight into the views of clinicians with regard to the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD in SUD patients.

Method: A qualitative research method was chosen.

Childhood adversities increase the risk of psychosis: a meta-analysis of patient-control, prospective- and cross-sectional cohort studies.

Evidence suggests that adverse experiences in childhood are associated with psychosis. To examine the association between childhood adversity and trauma (sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, parental death, and bullying) and psychosis outcome, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, and Web of Science were searched from January 1980 through November 2011. We included prospective cohort studies, large-scale cross-sectional studies investigating the association between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms or illness, case-control studies comparing the prevalence of adverse events between psychotic patients and controls using dichotomous or continuous measures, and case-control studies comparing the prevalence of psychotic symptoms between exposed and nonexposed subjects using dichotomous or continuous measures of adversity and psychosis.

Evidence that onset of psychosis in the population reflects early hallucinatory experiences that through environmental risks and affective dysregulation become complicated by delusions.

Objective: To examine the hypothesis that the "natural" combination of delusions and hallucinations in psychotic disorders in fact represents a selection of early subclinical hallucinatory experiences associated with delusional ideation, resulting in need for care and mental health service use.

Methods: In the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology study, a prospective, 10-year follow-up of a representative cohort of adolescents and young adults in Munich, Germany (n = 2524), clinical psychologists assessed hallucinations and delusions at 2 time points (T2 and T3). Analyses compared differences in psychopathology, familial liability for nonpsychotic disorder, nongenetic risk factors, persistence, and clinical outcome between groups characterized by: (1) absence of positive psychotic symptoms, (2) presence of isolated hallucinations, (3) isolated delusions, and (4) both hallucinations and delusions.