Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

American Psychiatric Association Task Force Calls Attention to Increased Risk for Mental Illness From Adverse Childhood Experiences

Earlier in 2006 it was announced that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) would form a special task force to examine the effects of exposure to interpersonal violence in childhood, and its relationship to mental illness.

The November edition of Clinical Psychiatry News reports that the task force has made a stern recommendation to the APA. "Traumatic stress in youth is the single most important contributor to later psychiatric morbidity and mortality, and the American Psychiatric Association should make violence and its sequelae a major organizational priority, according to a new report."

Furthermore, it stated,

"The report of the APA Task Force on the Biopsychosocial Consequences of Childhood Violence...also concluded that the prevention of trauma and violence is potentially the single most effective strategy for the prevention of mental illness."

In other independent research, evidence has suggested that traumatic stress is a contributing factor in psychotic symptoms, and likely also schizophrenia.

Clinical Psychiatry News: APA Urged to Focus on Exposure to Violence

Related Reading:
Trauma Link to Schizophrenia is Strengthened by New Research

The Impact of Stress on the Brain, and Schizophrenia