Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

Childhood adversities (CAs) are currently regarded as broad spectrum risk factors compromising mental, physical health, and life-expectancy of exposed individuals. CAs have been associated with subsequent incidence of mood disorders, which in turn present with higher than expected prevalence of comorbid psychiatric and non-psychiatric illnesses, such as metabolic syndrome, obesity and autoimmune disorders. Although it becomes evident that CAs may be shared risks factors for mood and general medical disorders, clear insights on the underlying pathophysiology are still lacking. This symposium will present new data demonstrating that CAs increase the risk of comorbidity in patients diagnosed with mood disorders and will propose a model in which mechanisms involving immune dysfunction may be at play. Bruno Etain will show how CAs during childhood (neglects and abuses) associate with the subsequent development of bipolar disorder and how CAs associated with life-long diagnoses of chronic physical disorders such as metabolic syndrome and more generally an increased medical burden. José Oliveira will add further evidence using data on depressive disorders, to explore the hypothesis that CAs act through a common pathophysiological pathway involving chronic inflammation, rather than inducing mere co-occurrence through distinct causal pathways. Finally, Monica Aas will present data confirming that adults exposed to childhood trauma present higher indices of inflammation and shorter telomere length, a biological marker of ageing and reduced life expectancy. The identification of reliable biomarkers will help further characterize CAs as a preventable cause of morbidity and a priority in the development of mental health policies and interventional strategies.