# Interplay Between Childhood Maltreatment, Subclinical Post‐Traumatic Stress Symptoms, and IQ: Findings From the EU‐GEI Multicentre Case–Control Study **Authors:** Lucia Sideli, Monica Aas, Luis Alameda, Giulia Trotta, Daniele La Barbera, Caterina La Cascia, Laura Ferraro, Eva Velthorst, Giada Tripoli, Adriano Schimmenti, Andrea Fontana, Diego Quattrone, Charlotte Gayer‐Anderson, Victoria Rodriguez, Edoardo Spinazzola, Simona Stilo, Fabio Seminerio, Crocettarachele Sartorio, Giovanna Marrazzo, Antonio Lasalvia, Sarah Tosato, Ilaria Tarricone, Giuseppe D'Andrea, Silvia Amoretti, Silvia Amoretti, Álvaro Andreu‐Bernabeu, Grégoire Baudin, Stephanie Beards, Chiara Bonetto, Elena Bonora, Bibiana Cabrera, Angel Carracedo, Thomas Charpeaud, Javier Costas, Doriana Cristofalo, Manuel Durán‐Cutilla, Aziz Ferchiou, David Fraguas, Nathalie Franke, Flora Frijda, Cloe Llorente, Paz Garcia‐Portilla, Javier González Peñas, Kathryn Hubbard, Stéphane Jamain, Estela Jiménez‐López, Marion Leboyer, Gonzalo López Montoya, Esther Lorente‐Rovira, Covadonga M. Díaz‐Caneja, Camila Marcelino Loureiro, Maria Mayoral, Jessica Merchan, Dolores M. Moreno, Elles Messchaart, Ma Dolores Moltó, Gisela Mezquida, Carmen Moreno, Roberto Muratori, Nacher Juan, Mara Parellada, Marta Rapado‐Castro, Mirella Ruggeri, Jean‐Romain Richard, Rodríguez Solano, José Juan, Pilar A. Sáiz, Teresa Sánchez‐Gutierrez, Emilio Sánchez, Schürhoff Franck, Marco Seri, Rosana Shuhama, Fabian Termorshuizen, Anne‐Marie Tronche, Daniella van Dam, Elsje van der Ven, Celso Arango, Manuel Arrojo, Miguel Bernardo, Julio Bobes, Julio Sanjuán, Jose Luis Santos, Paulo Rossi Menezes, Cristina Marta Del‐Ben, Hannah E. Jongsma, Peter B. Jones, James B. Kirkbride, Pierre‐Michel Llorca, Andrea Tortelli, Baptiste Pignon, Lieuwe de Haan, Jean‐Paul Selten, Jim Van Os, Bart P. Rutten, Marta Di Forti, Robin M. Murray, Craig Morgan, Helen L. Fisher PMC · DOI: 10.1111/eip.70079 · Early Intervention in Psychiatry · 2025-08-09 ## TL;DR The study explores how childhood maltreatment and post-traumatic stress symptoms affect IQ in people with psychosis and controls. ## Contribution It reveals a unique interaction between maltreatment and PTSS impacting IQ only in psychosis patients. ## Key findings - PTSS were linked to lower IQ in community controls but not in psychosis patients. - An interaction between PTSS and childhood maltreatment affected IQ in first-episode psychosis patients. - No such interaction was found in community controls. ## Abstract Evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment affects cognitive performance in both patients with psychosis and community controls. However, the interplay between childhood maltreatment, post‐traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and intelligence has not been investigated. This study investigated the relationship between childhood maltreatment, subclinical PTSS, and intelligence among patients with first‐episode psychosis (FEP) and community controls. Patients with FEP (N = 602) and controls (N = 853) from the EU‐GEI study were assessed for childhood maltreatment, PTSS, and intelligence quotient (IQ). PTSS were associated with lower IQ among community controls but not among patients with FEP. In the FEP group, an interaction (p = 0.044) between PTSS and childhood maltreatment on IQ was found, such that the association between PTSS and lower IQ was only present among those exposed to childhood maltreatment. No interaction was evident in controls (p = 0.826). The findings suggest the relevance of cognitive rehabilitation for FEP patients with childhood maltreatment and PTSS. ## Linked entities - **Diseases:** psychosis (MONDO:0005485) ## Full text _Full body text omitted from this summary view._ Fetch the complete paper as Markdown: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12335189/full.md ## Figures 1 figure with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12335189/full.md ## References 52 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12335189/full.md --- Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12335189