Childhood trauma linked to hard-to-treat depression later

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-03-13 02:00

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Regardless of whether depression runs in the family, children who experience traumatic events are more likely to go on to develop treatment-resistant depression (TRD) than children who do not, according to Swedish and Scottish researchers. They looked at records for 17,814 Swedish twins born between 1959 and 1992, 5,558 of whom (31.2%) reported at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), and 996 of whom (5.6%) reported three or more. Checking for TRD, the scientists found the overall prevalence was 1.3%, and for each additional ACE, the likelihood of developing depression later in life grew. Physical neglect and sexual abuse were the types of ACE that were most strongly linked with an increased risk of TRD, the researchers say. The findings highlight the importance of preventing ACEs and incorporating trauma history in clinical assessments of depressed people, the authors conclude.

News release

From: JAMA

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Treatment-Resistant Depression

About The Study: In this cohort study, adverse childhood experience (ACE) exposure was associated with an increased risk of treatment-resistant depression even after accounting for unmeasured familial confounding. The findings highlight the importance of preventing ACEs and incorporating ACE history into clinical assessment to identify individuals with major depressive disorder who may be at elevated risk for treatment resistance.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research: Link to Paper 1 | Paper 2

Organisation/s: Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Purdue University, USA

Funder: This work was supported by grant R01 MH123724 from the National Institute of Mental Health (Dr Lu), grant agreement 964874 with the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Dr Lu), grants 2021-02615 (Dr Lu) and 2024-00429 (Dr Liu) from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), and grant agreement 101042183 with the European Research Council (Dr Lu). The Swedish Twin Registry is managed by Karolinska Institutet and is funded by grant 2021-00180 from the Swedish Research Council.

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