Childhood trauma in substance use disorder and depression: An analysis by gender among a Brazilian clinical sample

Adriana M. Tuccia, Florence Kerr-Corrêab, Maria Lucia O. Souza-Formigonic,∗
a Departmento de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, SP, Brazil
b Departmento de Neurologia e Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu, Universidade Estadual de São Paulo, Botucatu, SP, Brazil
c Departmento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Botucatu n◦ 862 1◦ Andar, CEP 04023–062, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Introduction Some studies in the literature suggest that victims of trauma during childhood present a higher use of drugs and alcohol than those who were not subject to such abuses (Anda et al., 2006; Dube, Anda, Felitti, Edwards, & Croft, 2002; Dube et al., 2005; Nelson et al., 2006). Consequently, sexual, physical, and emotional abuses are risk factors for the development of drug dependence in the medium- and long-term (Duran et al., 2004). In a review on this issue, Arellano (1996) concluded that even though most studies have found a relation between drug dependence and sexual or physical abuse, the nature and the characteristics of this interaction are still not very clear. Some studies have found a history of sexual and physical abuse among people who are under treatment for drug dependence (Arellano, 1996; Brems, Johnson, Neal, & Freemon, 2004; Jasinski, Williams, & Siegel, 2000; Walton-Mossa & McCaulb, 2006) as well as a high frequency of drug use and dependence among people who were victims of sexual and physical abuse, both in prospective (Jasinski et al., 2000) and retrospective studies (Anda et al., 2006; Dube et al., 2005; Mirsal, Kalyoncu, Pektas, Tan, & Beyazyürek, 2004). Other studies have suggested that some failures in the treatment of drug-dependent patients might stem from the lack of an adequate investigation of the history of previous sexual or physical abuse (Arellano, 1996).
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