Schizophrenia in children

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder with a chronic course. The disease can occur in patients of any age due to disorders in the functioning of dopamine receptors in the brain. Schizophrenia in children is manifested by a distortion of perception of reality and the appearance of unhealthy mental reactions: emotional coldness, autism, detachment.

The childhood type of the disease does not have clear structures: it is impossible to say for sure that if a child has three specific symptoms, then he definitely has schizophrenia. With the help of a diary of observations and diagnostic studies, a specialist can make a preliminary diagnosis of "childhood type of schizophrenia."

Important fact: the patient's clinical observation lasts at least a year. In addition, doctors try not to diagnose this disease before the age of majority, in order to ensure a more favorable social future for the child. The psyche of children is plastic, and with proper and rapid treatment, the selection of the necessary drug therapy and the creation of favorable social factors, children's schizophrenia can be cured.

Signs of schizophrenia in children

The first signs of schizophrenia in children are manifested by disorders of the child's general condition. He becomes more inert, and what used to interest him ceases to matter to him. A child with schizophrenia develops excessive emotionality and noticeable irritability in response to habitual actions and events, and vivid protests appear. Another sign of this disease is sleep disorders.

Prepubescent and adolescent children with this disease are characterized by problems with thinking. They often have strange fantasies and fears. This is manifested by the fact that the child begins to avoid classmates and teachers, refuses to go to school, and does not perceive his parents as his own.

A child with schizophrenia has an inadequate reaction to events: he laughs when someone kills an animal, or, conversely, cries when he is given a long-awaited gift. A child with schizophrenia may develop echolalia.: this is a symptom in which he repeats the same words taken out of context. These can also be broken sentences, when a child abruptly stops talking without finishing a thought, or, conversely, utters unrelated phrases. Facial expressions often do not correspond to the spoken speech, they generally become peculiar and inexpressive. Motor activity changes in children with this disease. This is manifested by the fact that the child freezes in one position for a long time, his movements become waxy, clumsy, or vice versa too active (the latter often happens in young children, and parents mistake childhood schizophrenia for ordinary hyperactivity).

The symptoms are divided into two types – positive and negative. Negative signs are manifested by a loss of interest in everything that previously aroused interest, as well as regressive behavior (the child loses neatness skills, is constantly silent, babbles and other symptoms occur instead of speech). A positive sign is the appearance of hallucinations in children. A child with schizophrenia feels like someone is stalking him, he may regularly see silhouettes, he complains to his parents about this and becomes very anxious. At this point, it is very important that loved ones do not ignore what is happening, do not devalue the child's experiences and contact a specialist in time.

Causes of the disease

• Potentially a genetic predisposition. If one parent has schizophrenia, the child's risk of getting sick is no more than 5-7%; if both parents have the disease, the risk increases to 15%.
• Biological predisposition: when dopamine systems are rebuilt, biochemical processes are disrupted, which causes a mental disorder. 
• An unfavorable atmosphere in which a child is raised (emotional coldness on the part of loved ones or, conversely, hyperprotection, inconsistency in upbringing, lack of consistency and other social reasons). 
• According to the neurodysontogenetic theory, children develop this disease due to disorders in the formation of the brain in the womb: such a child's neurons do not mature properly, and the volume of the ventricles of the brain increases.
• Children who have problems with speech development, processing speed and perception of new information, memory and other mental disorders are at risk, since such features are triggers for the development of childhood schizophrenia.

Diagnosis of childhood type of schizophrenia

Diagnosis of the childhood type of this disease begins with an initial meeting of parents with a psychiatrist, who listens to parents' complaints, collects a detailed medical history, finds out when the symptoms began to appear, what the child was like in childhood, how he changed with age, how his speech developed, how he adapted to social groups, what relationships he had with peers, with adults and what is happening now.

Each stage of a child's development is important for accurate diagnosis of the childhood type of this disease. After consulting with the parents, the psychiatrist communicates with the patient himself. This is a well—structured conversation aimed at determining the state of thinking and symptoms - positive and negative.

Also, during the consultation, the doctor closely monitors the patient, since his behavior and stories may differ from each other. This may be due to the fact that during hallucinations, the child has a voice in his head that intimidates him and forbids him to tell anyone about the problem, threatening that if he does this, something bad will happen to his loved ones.

During a clinical conversation, you can see when the child is trying to listen to someone or indirectly answers the doctor's questions. This makes it possible to determine the severity of childhood schizophrenia. After a clinical conversation, the psychiatrist directs the patient to a psychologist for diagnosis, who determines qualitative changes in thinking and conducts a pathopsychological examination. 

Treatment of childhood schizophrenia

Treatment of childhood schizophrenia consists of:

• taking medications (most often antipsychotics)
• sessions with a psychologist and psychotherapist, family therapy
• assistive methods (biofeedback therapy, or BOS; transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS)
• patients with childhood type of disease are treated in a hospital if necessary.