Trauma and Psychosis: the role of dissociation & cognitive inhibition
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Childhood trauma and hallucinatory experiences in psychosis: the role of dissociation and cognitive inhibition. **PLEASE NOTE THIS APPLICATION RELATES TO A PREVIOUS RESEARCH PROPOSAL REVIEWED BY THE REC (IRAS NO: 333321 - REC REFERENCE NUMBER: 23/WM/0207).**
IRAS ID
335396
Contact name
Steven Lovatt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
There is emerging evidence to support the link between childhood trauma and the development of hallucinatory experiences. More recently, dissociative processes have been proposed to mediate this link (Varese, Barkus, & Bentall, 2012). Dissociation has been defined as the “lack of normal integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into the stream of consciousness and memory” (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986, p. 727).
The first aim of the research project is to replicate the above findings of Varese et al. In addition, the researcher will provide an important novel extension to this work by examining the influence of dissociative symptoms on a cognitive process believed to underlie hallucinatory experiences (Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfeld, & Merckelbach, 2008). There is strong empirical support to indicate that impairments in cognitive inhibition are associated with hallucination-proneness (Waters, Badcock, Maybery, & Michie, 2003; Michie, Badcock, Waters, & Maybery, 2006). It is believed that this research project will be the first to empirically test whether dissociation is associated with underlying deficits in cognitive inhibition in a sample of patients with psychosis-spectrum disorders.
Therefore, the research aims to build on the current literature around underlying correlates of psychosis-spectrum disorders, by exploring traumatic experiences in childhood and looking at whether the ability to dissociate and actively stop the voices they are of benefit. The hope is that this provides new information that will further enable clinical teams in their care and treatment of individuals with a psychotic disorder.
The study will look to recruit between 50-60 adults (18+) who have a confirmed diagnosis of a psychosis-spectrum condition from across 4 agreed NHS services. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaire measures of hallucination-proneness, childhood trauma, and dissociative experiences, alongside a task assessing cognitive inhibition. The results will be subject to statistical analysis thereafter.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0235
Date of REC Opinion
12 Dec 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion