On June 14, 2006, University of Manchester researcher Paul Hammersley was scheduled to shake the psychiatric establishment to its intellectual roots by reporting to two international conferences (in London and Madrid) that child abuse can cause schizophrenia.
This is either a groundbreaking and highly contentious theory that could radically change the psychiatric profession, or, from a consumer's point of view, just a return to common sense.
Mr Hammersley said: "We are not returning to the 1960s and making the mistake of blaming families, but professionals have to realize that child abuse was a reality for large numbers of adult sufferers of psychosis...The experience of hearing voices is consistently associated with childhood trauma regardless of diagnosis or genetic pedigree."
His co-presenter, Dr. John Read, said: "I hope we soon see a more balanced and evidence-based approach to schizophrenia and people using mental health services being asked what has happened to them and being given help instead of stigmatizing labels and mood-altering drugs."
Hammersley and Read argue that two-thirds of people diagnosed as schizophrenic have suffered physical or sexual abuse and thus it is shown to be a major, if not the major, cause of the illness. With a proven correlation between the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia, they say, a number of schizophrenic symptoms are actually caused by trauma.
del.icio.us
Digg this
