Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T15:37:53.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Triggering Hypothesis of the Role of Life Events in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Steven Hirsch ,
Philip Cramer  and
Jo Bowen
Steven Hirsch*
Affiliation:
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School London W6 8RP
Philip Cramer
Affiliation:
Ealing Mental Health Unit, Uxbridge Road, Southall, Middlesex
Jo Bowen
Affiliation:
Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham Palace Road, London W6
*
Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The idea of a triggering effect in schizophrenia emphasises the role of life events as precipitating factors which act on an individual's specific predisposition towards the illness (Wing, 1978).

Type
Stressors
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue S18: Onset and Course of Schizophrenic Disorders: Dynamic Interactions between Relevant Factors , October 1992 , pp. 84 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al Khani, M. A. F. K., Bebbington, P. E., Watson, J. P., et al (1986) Life events in schizophrenia. A Saudi Arabian study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 12–22.Google Scholar
Bartko, G., Maylath, E. & Herczeg, I. (1987) Comparative study of schizophrenic patients relapsed on and off medication. Psychiatry Research, 22, 221–227.Google Scholar
Barlett, F. C. (1932) Remembering: A Study in Experiment and Social Psychology. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Birley, J. L. T. & Brown, G. W. (1970) Crises and life changes preceding the onset of relapse of acute schizophrenia: clinical aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 327–333.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Birley, J. (1968) Crises and life changes and the onset of schizophrenia. Journal of Health & Social Behaviour, 9, 203–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. O. (1978) The Bedford College of Life Events and Difficulty Schedule: Director of Contextual Threat Ratings of Events. London: Bedford College, University of London.Google Scholar
Canton, G. & Fraccon, I. G. (1985) Life events and schizophrenia: a replication. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 71, 211–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chung, R. K., Langeluddecke, P. & Tennant, C. (1986) Threatening life events in the onset of schizophrenia, schizophreniform psychosis and hypomania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 680–685.Google Scholar
Creed, F. (1990) Life events and disorder. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 3, 259–263.Google Scholar
Day, R., Wielson, J., Korten, A., et al (1987) Stressful life events preceding the acute onset of schizophrenia: a cross national study from the WHO. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, 11, 123–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. P., Levav, I., Shrout, P. E., et al (1987) Life stress and psychopathology: progress on research begun with Barbara Snell Dohrenwend. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 677–713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gureje, O. & Adewunmi, A. (1988) Life events in schizophrenia in Nigerians. A controlled investigation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 367–375.Google Scholar
Hardesty, J., Falloon, I. R.H. & Shirin, K. (1985) The impact of life events, stress and coping on the morbidity of schizophrenia. In Family Management of Schizophrenia (ed. Falloon, I. R. H.), pp. 137–152. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, S. R., Gaind, E., Rohde, P. D., et al. (1973) Out-patient maintenance of chronic schizophrenic patients with long-acting fluphenazine: double blind placebo trial. British Medical Journal, i, 633–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, J. P. & Myers, J. (1976) Recent life events and acute schizophrenic psychosis: a controlled study. Journal of Nervous & Mental Diseases, 162, 75–87.Google Scholar
Leff, J. P., Hirsch, S. R., Gaind, R., et al (1973) Life events and maintenance therapy in schizophrenic relapse. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 659–660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leff, J. P., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., et al (1983) Life events, relatives expressed emotion and maintenance neuroleptics in schizophrenic relapse. Psychological Medicine, 13, 799–806.Google Scholar
Leff, J. P. & Vaughn, C. (1980) The interaction of life events and expressed emotions in schizophrenic & depressive neurosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 146–153.Google Scholar
Schwartz, C. & Myers, J. K. (1977) Comparison of schizophrenics with a community sample. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 1238–1241.Google Scholar
Surtees, P. G. (1989) Adversity and psychiatric disorder: a decay model. In Life Events and Illness (eds G. Brown & T. O. Harris), pp. 161–195. London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Ventura, J., Nuechterlein, K. H., Lukoff, D., et al (1989) A prospective study of stressful life events in schizophrenic relapse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, 407–411.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1978) The social context of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychology, 135, 1333–1339.Google Scholar
Wittchen, H. U., Essau, C. A., Hecht, H., et al (1989) Reliability of life event assessments test-retest reliability and fall off effects of the Munich Interview for the assessment of life events. Journal of Affective Disorders, 16, 77–92.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.