Stressful childhood experiences (SCE) are associated with a variety of health and social problems. In people with severe mental illness (SMI) traumatic childhood experiences have been linked to more severe and treatment refractory forms of psychiatric symptoms, including psychotic symptoms. This study evaluates the use of psychotropic medication groups in a population of people with SMI and SCE, testing the association between SCE and prescription medication in an SMI population.

The efficacy of psychotherapeutic approaches in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be regarded as empirically demonstrated. Overall, effect sizes appear to be higher for psychotherapy than for medication. Many well-controlled trials with a mixed variety of trauma survivors have demonstrated that trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is effective in treating PTSD. Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) is currently seen as the treatment with the strongest evidence for its efficacy.

Psychological trauma can have devastating consequences on emotion regulatory capacities and lead to dissociative processes that provide subjective detachment from overwhelming emotional experience during and in the aftermath of trauma. Dissociation is a complex phenomenon that comprises a host of symptoms and factors, including depersonalization, derealization, time distortion, dissociative flashbacks, and alterations in the perception of the self. Dissociation occurs in up to two thirds of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Traumatic exposure is a common experience among children and may have severe and long lasting effects on child’s mental well-being and development. This dissertation reports on children who have been exposed to one or more potentially traumatic events during their lives and focuses on identifying those children suffering from psychological trauma. The results presented in this thesis expand current knowledge with regard to the definition of a traumatic event and the different traumatic stress profiles between single trauma and child maltreatment.