Childhood Trauma and its Association with Internalized Stigma in Serious Mental Illness.

Approximately 80% of individuals with serious mental illness have experienced childhood trauma. Childhood trauma is associated with internalized stigma, or negative beliefs about one’s own mental illness. However, it is unclear how specific types of childhood trauma are associated with internalized stigma. 185 adults with SMI were recruited from three locations: University of California, San Diego, University of Texas at Dallas, and University of Miami. In this cross-sectional study, participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, which captured childhood trauma experiences including emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, and sexual abuse. Participants also completed the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale. We found significant associations between the severity of all types of childhood trauma and internalized stigma, including emotional abuse (rs =.31, p < .01), emotional neglect (rs = .24, p < .01), physical abuse (rs = .18, p = .02), physical neglect (rs =.16, p = .03), and sexual abuse (rs = .17, p = .02). Regression analyses showed that childhood trauma predicted greater internalized stigma (R2 = .066, p < .01), with emotional abuse emerging as the only unique predictor when all subscales were considered simultaneously (R2 = .067, p = .015). The severity of all subtypes of childhood trauma was significantly associated with internalized stigma; however, only emotional abuse uniquely predicted internalized stigma when all subtypes were considered together. These findings suggest that childhood trauma, particularly emotional abuse, may be related to self-stigmatizing beliefs, highlighting the potential value of trauma-focused therapy in addressing these challenges.