M102. MEASURING PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL STRESS IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH CHILDHOOD TRAUMA IN EARLY SCHIZOPHRENIA - A PILOT STUDY

BACKGROUND: In lower to middle income countries (LMIC), the influences of environmental stress on neurobiological processes involved in the development of schizophrenia is of great importance. High levels of stress may contribute to an increased burden of schizophrenia, including profound functional impairment and disability, decreased productivity, and even elevated mortality. Stress in Schizophrenia has been associated with behavioral disturbances such as maladaptive coping styles as well as well-established physiological abnormalities in sensorimotor gating in the form of abnormal startle responses. In turn, childhood trauma exposure is known to affect physiological stress responses. Indeed, we have found childhood trauma to be associated with both white matter and hippocampal changes in schizophrenia. Few studies, however, have explored the relationship between Childhood trauma and stress responses in schizophrenia. In recent years Virtual Reality (VR) has undergone a resurgence as a viable method for studying fear related physiological stress responses in an ecologically valid manner. Here we aim to investigate the potential relationship between abnormal physiological stress responses in schizophrenia with early life adversity. METHODS: Physiological response data were collected while participants completed a VR paradigm based on the Trier stress test, a well-established social stressor that reliably elicits a stress response in participants in VR and HPA axis attenuation in schizophrenia. Data were also collected in a fear of heights environment, not associated with abnormalities in schizophrenia. Childhood trauma was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). HPA axis stress responses during the course of the task were assessed using saliva cortisol samples collected at key points during the paradigms. RESULTS: Preliminary data of both the social anxiety and fear of heights scenario will be presented. We will focus specifically on the viability of using VR in a LMIC context. DISCUSSION: VR could prove to be a cost-effective tool to explore the relationship between childhood trauma, stress sensitivity and schizophrenia.