Childhood trauma and dissociative experiences in patients with schizophrenia, major depression disorders and normal group

Childhood traumatic and dissociative experiences play a crucial role in psychological disorders, with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder being two serious conditions that require examination of various etiological and maintaining factors. In Iran, the lack of sufficient research evidence comparing childhood traumatic and dissociative experiences between these two disorders is a significant research gap, which this study aims to address. The population consisted of patients with major depressive disorders and schizophrenia who visited Razi Hospital and psychiatric clinics in Tabriz from 2020 to 2023. Among them, 68 patients with major depressive disorders and 68 patients with schizophrenia were selected and tested on a voluntary basis. A non-patient group of 68 individuals was selected based on matched characteristics from students and other citizens of Tabriz. Participants responded to scales measuring dissociative symptoms and childhood trauma. The data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that patients with major depressive disorder and schizophrenia scored higher on childhood traumatic and dissociative experiences compared to the control group. Additionally, when comparing the two patient groups, patients with major depressive disorder scored higher on childhood traumatic experiences, while patients with schizophrenia scored higher on dissociative experiences. This study revealed that patients with major depressive disorder scored higher on childhood traumatic experiences compared to patients with schizophrenia, while schizophrenia patients exhibited higher scores on dissociative symptom.