Childhood trauma in the lives of substance-dependent patients: The relationship between depression, anxiety and self-esteem.

BACKGROUND: High levels of childhood traumatic experiences have been observed among substance abusers. There has been insufficient study of the effects of childhood trauma in adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to research the relationship between childhood trauma, self-esteem, and levels of depression and anxiety in substance-dependent (SD) people.

METHOD: This study took place between March 2012 and April 2013, at Balıklı Rum Hospital (Istanbul) substance dependency clinic. It included 50 patients diagnosed as substance dependent according to the criteria of DSM-IV as compared with 45 healthy controls. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Diagnosis (SCID-I) was used to identify Axis I disorders. All other data was collected using a semi-structured socio-demographic questionnaire, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).

FINDINGS: The total scores of the SD group on the CTQ and on its Emotional Abuse/Emotional Neglect (EA/EN), Physical Abuse (PA) and Sexual Abuse (SA) subscales were statistically significant. In relation to the healthy controls, the SD group scored higher on the RSES, BDI and BAI. A correlation was observed between the total scores of SD individuals on the CTQ and their scores on the RSES, BDI and BAI.

CONCLUSION: This study showed high levels of childhood traumatic experiences for SD people and indicates that there may be a relationship between these experiences and their levels of self-esteem, depression and anxiety.