Prof. Christoph U. Correll

Ponència	Trauma i esquizofrènia
Data	Divendres, 26 d'abril, 2024
Hora	11:15 - 12:00
Taula rodona 2	Aspectes clínics del trauma

Christoph U. Correll is Professor of Psychiatry at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New York, USA, and Professor and Chair, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany. He completed his medical studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and University of Dundee School of Medicine, Scotland. He is board certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, having completed both residencies at Zucker Hillside Hospital, New York. Prof. Correll focusses on the identification and treatment of youth and adults with severe mental illness, clinical trials, epidemiology, psychopharmacology, meta-analyses and the interface between physical and mental health.

He has authored over 750 journal articles that have been cited over 54,000 times and received over 40 research awards.

Since 2014, he has been listed annually by Clarivate/Web of Science as one of the “most influential scientific minds” and “top 1% cited scientists in the area of psychiatry”.

https://publons.com/researcher/2796036/christoph-u-correll/

He has held numerous Expertscape rankings based on number of publications and citations in the past 10 years, being listed in 15 topics as “Expert” and in 24 topics as “World Expert”. Since 2017, he has ranked continuously as number one world expert in 9 different areas, including:

1. Central nervous system agents, out of 308,311 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/central+nervous+system+agents)
2. Psychotropic drugs, out of 131,808 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/psychotropic+drugs)
3. Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders, out of 94,268 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/schizophrenia+spectrum+and+other+psychotic+disorders)
4. Schizophrenia, out of 90,874 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/schizophrenia)
5. Tranquilizing agents, out of 71,122 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/tranquilizing agents)
6. Weight gain, out of 68,578 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/weight+gain)
7. Delayed-action preparations out of 68,517 ranked scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/delayed-action+preparations)
8. Antipsychotics, out of 60,313 scientists (https://expertscape.com/ex/antipsychotics)

Schizophrenia is a complex biopsychosocial disorder. Trauma is intricately linked with the development of schizophrenia, mediated through neurobiological, genetic, and environmental pathways. This connection underscores the importance of early intervention and trauma-informed care in psychiatric practice. Trauma and schizophrenia share common ground in neurobiological alterations and inflammation. These shared pathways suggest a bidirectional relationship, where trauma can precipitate schizophrenia symptoms, and inflammation can serve as a biomarker for both conditions. Some important variables involved in both trauma and schizophrenia are the HPA-axis, inflammation, BDNF, and the catecholamines, particularly dopamine. Genetic predispositions and epigenetic modifications resulting from trauma exposure play crucial roles in schizophrenia's onset and progression. Trauma, particularly in childhood, may increase the risk of psychosis symptoms and schizophrenia. In people who are genetically predisposed to developing a psychotic disorder, there seems to be a subgroup of individuals with psychotic disorders, particularly early-onset psychosis, whose first symptomatic manifestation is linked to abuse during childhood. Evidence shows that with repeated exposure, any type of childhood abuse can increase the risk of schizophrenia, including emotional abuse, physical abuse and physical neglect. This is consistent with the notion that in those who are genetically predisposed, any type of stressful experience that exceeds the individual’s resilience can act as a trigger for psychosis. While exposure to aversive childhood events and abuse significantly increases the risk for developing psychotic disorders, different types of trauma also influence outcomes. The strongest relationships exist for sexual abuse, which can increase the risk after only a single occurrence, and for emotional neglect. Nevertheless, despite observational and correlational evidence, inferring causality is difficult and it may be more advisable to think of schizophrenia as emerging from an interplay of multiple risk factors, including but not limited to trauma.

• Bhattacharyya S, et al (2023). "Stressful life events and relapse of psychosis: analysis of causal association in a 2-year prospective observational cohort of individuals with first-episode psychosis in the UK". Lancet Psychiatry. 2023 Jun;10(6):414-425.
• Coughlan H, Cannon M. (2017). "Does childhood trauma play a role in the aetiology of psychosis? A review of recent evidence" BJPsych Advances. 2017;23(5):307-315.
• Misiak B, et al (2017). "Toward a unified theory of childhood trauma and psychosis: A comprehensive review of epidemiological, clinical, neuropsychological and biological findings". Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2017 Apr;75:393-406.