Childhood Schizophrenia: Everything You Need To Know
Childhood schizophrenia is a mental disorder that causes aggressive behavior and sudden changes in emotions in young children. How can you tell that your child has it? Just read on to find out more about it!
Have you heard of childhood schizophrenia ? It is a rare mental illness that experts have yet to research and find out about. However, it is already known that it will require lifelong treatment.
Schizophrenia is a chronic psychotic disorder. She has severe deficits in cognition, personality disorders, hallucinations and a loss of contact with reality. In today’s article, we’re going to tell you more about childhood schizophrenia .
General facts about schizophrenia
In most cases, schizophrenia occurs between the ages of 14 and 35 years. It is considered to be early on if it occurs in teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18. If it starts earlier, the prognosis is not good.
However, childhood schizophrenia is only diagnosed in 1 in 10,000 children. This number makes this mental disorder a rare but complicated mental illness.
Everything you need to know about childhood schizophrenia
Are hallucinations the main symptom of this condition?
First of all, you should know that hallucinations are not always confirmation of childhood schizophrenia. They can also be due to psychological trauma or some type of autism.
Children with schizophrenia also experience abnormal thinking, impulsive aggressive behavior, and other negative symptoms such as apathy and social withdrawal. However, social withdrawal could also be confused with depressive states. For this reason, it is very important that all aspects and symptoms present are taken into account when making a diagnosis.
Other Symptoms of Childhood Schizophrenia
In general , the characteristics of schizophrenia include problems that affect thinking, behavior, and emotions. Delusions and hallucinations are common, as is disorganized language.
Unfortunately, this disease is difficult to detect in the early stages. However, affected children may have delays in speaking, crawling and walking. The same applies to other atypical motor behaviors such as shaking parts of the body and a staggering gait.
As the disease progresses, other disorders such as strange behavior and behavioral disorders in dealing with family and friends can occur. In addition, problems sleeping, irritability, and a lack of motivation are other common characteristics.
Violent behavior
Violent behavior is another symptom of childhood schizophrenia. However, many more studies are required on this. The study that has already been carried out looked at children between the ages of 4 and 15 who suffered from a schizophrenic disorder.
72% of them had shown violent behavior in the past, while a third were characterized by significant aggressiveness. In some cases, the researchers could not find a cause for these violent episodes, which is why this internal violence is considered impulsive.
What are the causes of this mental illness?
Although the cause of schizophrenia in childhood may be the same as in adults, it is not yet clearly understood. Studies point to genetic causes and changes in chemical processes in the brain (dopamine and glutamate).
In addition, there are some factors that can affect the occurrence of this disease:
- A family history of this disease
- Use of psychoactive substances
- A disturbed immune system
- Complications during pregnancy or childbirth
- If the father was relatively old at the time of conception
The risk of suicide is very high
The high risk of suicide associated with childhood schizophrenia is a matter of great concern to patients and their families as well as to the treating physicians. This fact is very relevant as statistics show that 90% of young people who commit suicide have suffered from a mental disorder.
30% of young people with schizophrenia will make recurring suicide attempts throughout their lives. Close monitoring of those affected is therefore essential from an early age.
Is There Any Treatment For Childhood Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment, whether it started in childhood or adulthood. Therefore, in any case, it is extremely important to start treatment as soon as possible in order to reduce psychotic episodes and their long-term effects.
While you now know a little more about the symptoms and characteristics of childhood schizophrenia, keep in mind that many symptoms can be related to other mental disorders as well. Therefore, only a doctor can make a definitive diagnosis and develop personalized treatment for each individual case.
