Springer Childhood Trauma in Mental Disorders: A Comprehensive Approach

This volume presents a comprehensive overview of childhood trauma, considering the psychopathological definition and its neurobiological implications as well as its impact on different psychiatric disorders. The focus on childhood trauma rather than that occurring in adulthood is important due to its general “neuro-psyco-socio” and its specific biological implications, since trauma during childhood impacts directly on neurodevelopment. It has been suggested that early life stress increases vulnerability to psychiatric disorders; however, the exact mechanisms of this association are not yet completely understood. Although childhood trauma could be considered too unspecific to be an important risk factor for individual psychiatric disorders since it seems to occur across the board, it impacts differently on different psychiatric disorders, and it can modulate their clinical expression. Therefore, the assessment of early trauma needs to be included in the clinical evaluation of patients with psychiatric disorders. The volume will be an invaluable tool for psychiatrists, helping them to select suitable pharmacological, psychotherapeutic and rehabilitative treatments. From the Back Cover This volume presents a comprehensive overview of childhood trauma, considering the psychopathological definition and its neurobiological implications as well as its impact on different psychiatric disorders. The focus on childhood trauma rather than that occurring in adulthood is important due to its general “neuro-psyco-socio” and its specific biological implications, since trauma during childhood impacts directly on neurodevelopment. It has been suggested that early life stress increases vulnerability to psychiatric disorders; however, the exact mechanisms of this association are not yet completely understood. Although childhood trauma could be considered too unspecific to be an important risk factor for individual psychiatric disorders since it seems to occur across the board, it impacts differently on different psychiatric disorders, and it can modulate their clinical expression. Therefore, the assessment of early trauma needs to be included in the clinical evaluation of patients with psychiatric disorders. The volume will be an invaluable tool for psychiatrists, helping them to select suitable pharmacological, psychotherapeutic and rehabilitative treatments. About the Author Gianfranco Spalletta is a psychiatrist and has a PhD in Neuropsychology. He is the head of the Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry and the clinical director of the Neuropsychiatric Outpatient Clinic and the Memory Clinic of the IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome. He teaches Psychiatry at the speech therapy, the nursing and the international medical schools of the Tor Vergata University in Rome. In 2013 he was Visiting Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Iowa, and in 2014 at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. In 2015 he was nominated Adjunct Associate Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine of Houston, Texas, USA. He is the author of 300 manuscripts published in peer reviewed international journals and 10 book chapters (Psychiatry, Psychology, Neurology and Neuroscience fields). He edited the book Brain Morphometry of Springer Protocols. He has collaborations with Academic Departments in Iowa City, Houston, Dublin, Gottingen, Hannover, and Ülm. He is currently funded by the European Commission and the Italian Ministry of Health. Delfina Janiri is a psychiatrist currently working at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, Italy (Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCSS) and a PhD student at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology of Sapienza University in Rome. In 2018 and 2019 she was research fellow in the lab of Professor Sophia Frangou at the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine