Schizophrenia In Children

Schizophrenia is a complex disorder of the brain, which is incurable but treatable to live a close to a normal life. There are different types of schizophrenia and they each have different symptoms and affect a person's life in different ways.

First off I would like to tell you what exactly schizophrenia is. Schizophrenia is a brain disease, with concrete and specific symptoms due to physical and biochemical changes in the brain. This illness strikes young people in their prime age usually between 16 and 25. Schizophrenia is almost always treatable with medication. Contrary to what most think schizophrenia is not a "split personality", or caused by childhood trauma, bad parenting, or poverty, and not the result of any action or personal failure by the individual.(3)

Schizophrenia is a neurological disorder that affects the cognitive functions of an individual. The cause of this illness is unknown, but there are several theories of how an individual may acquire schizophrenia. Because there are many symptoms of the disease and because the symptoms can vary quite dramatically among several individuals and even within the same individual over time, the diagnosis of schizophrenia can be quite difficult.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder. It is also quite a complex illness that affects daily functioning of those who suffer from it. Professionals across several fields who treat schizophrenics do not share a consensus regarding the cause of schizophrenia, though there are a few theories regarding potential and definitive causes. The on-set of schizophrenia often takes place in adolescence and adulthood, but there are cases when there is childhood on-set schizophrenia. Schizophrenia in children will be the focus of this paper. Children who show signs of schizophrenia may begin doing so at around age five.

Generally, it will be seen mostly in the family line. If your mother, father, brother, or sister has had it then your chances are increased compared to someone whose distant family member has had it. Someone in the ancestry may have had it before and since then it has been carried down. As of yet, there is no way to determine exactly if you will develop the disease. Scientists have not found the specific gene variations that will eventually lead to Schizophrenia. There have been other cases however, where the disease is nowhere to be seen in past family members but certain factors such as drug or alcohol abuse have contributed to it being activated. Sometimes chemical imbalances in the brain will be what causes Schizophrenia. When you compare a normal healthy human brain to one that has Schizophrenia, they are somewhat different in the way they are structured. For instance, a Schizophrenic brain has a lot less gray matter in it and/or the ventricles will increase in size even after being treated. The NIMH believes that Schizophrenia affects more males than females and that the symptoms usually start between the ages of 16-30. Most likely it will not be a diagnosis after the age of 45 and rarely will it occur in children. The youngest child to ever be treated for Schizophrenia was a girl named Jani Schofield. The hallucinations began at a very young age for Jani. She could see rats that

One of the most debilitating, devastating, and incurable mental disorders is one that is plagued by severely abnormal functions, disturbed behaviors and the likelihood to seriously diminish nearly all functionality of life—this disorder is known as schizophrenia. While extremely rare, schizophrenia can develop in childhood, sometimes as young as two to four years. This is referred to as childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS). “Childhood-onset schizophrenia is a severe form of psychotic disorder that occurs at age 12 years or younger and is often chronic and persistently debilitating” (DSM-5). By a vast number of psychologists and other medical professionals, it is believed to be just as virulent and malicious as adolescent and adult schizophrenia. The DSM-5 criteria for child-onset schizophrenia requires at least two of the following five symptoms to be present for no less than a month, and at least one of these must be (1), (2), or (3): (1) delusions, (2) hallucinations, (3) disorganized speech, (4) grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, and (5) negative symptoms. Other criteria must include: a significantly lower level of functioning in other areas, such as work, interpersonal relations or self-care; the persistence of signs of disturbance for at least 6 months, including at least 1 month of symptoms that meet one of the five symptoms; the ruling out of schizoaffective disorder and depressive or bipolar disorder; and the exclusion of substance abuse or another medical

As an adult it is a bit more noticeable to be diagnosed with schizophrenia verses a child. children with schizophrenia has to do with many factors on why or how it was caused. Like many things it can be diagnosed genetically. If the parents have schizophrenia on either end in their family the child will most likely have schizophrenia. According to Dr. Daniel Weinberger, Director of the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program, at the National Institute of Mental Health stated that he estimated the current number of genes variations linked to schizophrenia was approximately 10 (Weinberger). In 1990 a study

When a person is in their teens this illness can be extremely difficult to diagnose. The reason that schizophrenia can be hard to get diagnosed with while still, a teenager is because some of the first showings of signs for schizophrenia are ones that are common for adolescents to have. These signs can include but are not limited to the teenagers change in a friend group, slipping of one's grades, having issues with their sleeping, and being very irritable. If this is happening in a younger person then all of these signs would point to something called the prodromal period (NAMI, 2018). The prodromal period is that of one to two years before the symptoms of schizophrenia occur but the symptoms that are occurring are not as severe and are considered to look like unusual behaviors (Durand & Barlow,

Schizophrenia is a mental illness which affects millions of people throughout the world. Scientists have begun to understand more and more about the possible causes, predisposing factors, types, and possible treatments for schizophrenia. (Torrey, 1995) It is very rare for schizophrenic symptoms to appear before the age of 12 but it does occur. Recently, there has been a growing interest in childhood schizophrenia. It is less than one-sixtieth as common as the adult-onset type but the characteristics are very similar. Childhood schizophrenia also tends to be harder to treat and to have a worse prognosis than the adult-onset form. (Rapoport, 1997)

Schizophrenia is very common in males than females the symptoms that occur in between the age 16 and 30 years old. In most cases people will not experience symptoms until they reach the age 45 however is very difficult for a doctor to diagnose teens with schizophrenia since all teens exhibit bizarre behaviors that might not seem like common symptoms of schizophrenia. Individuals with schizophrenia don't commit vicious crimes or become violent towards other people not unless they’re substance abuse however, there is a high percent of people with schizophrenia committing suicide or having suicidal thoughts

population in the United States and typically presents in early adult life. It is commonly associated with social and psychological deficits, erratic behavior, and hallucinations. It is not known what actually causes schizophrenia in adolescents, however it is believed that brain neurotransmitters, genetics, and the environment contributes to the development of this disorder. Early diagnosis of schizophrenia in adolescence is an intriguing topic that has been researched for numerous years, but further research is needed. Early intervention is extremely critical, not only because the disease becomes harder to treat

Schizophrenia is one of the most intriguing mental disorders that have captivated scientists to study more about it each year. The dictionary definition of schizophrenia is: a mental disorder that is characterized by disturbances, perception (hallucination) and behaviors that deteriorates the functioning in everyday life (Merriam Webster n.d. ). In other words, it is a severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks or behaves. There are many sub types of schizophrenia; however, paranoid schizophrenia is among the most common ones. Schizophrenia affects 1 in every 40,000 children, which makes it uncommon among this category. However, it affects 1 in every 100 adults where the average age for males is 18 years old and for females is

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that effect to critical thinking and emotional response. Most of the symptoms include delusion, hallucination, agitation, and lack of replies. Patient thinks something happen when it hasn't. Gene and environment contribute to development of schizophrenia. People who have relative with schizophrenia have more significantly increased risk for developing schizophrenia than others. The effects of schizophrenia can limit your ability in daily life. Most of the patient can’t accept that they’re ill. Schizophrenia need life-long treatment. Nowaday,the most reliable treatment are with medications and psychosocial therapy. In severe case, hospitalization is the best way for

"Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others. It is a complex, long-term medical illness, affecting about 1% of Americans" (NAMI). Schizophrenia has many causes, symptoms, and treatments and affects a wide variety of people. While it may be hard to diagnose the cases that are can receive treatment to help with their worst symptoms.

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that causes severe mental disturbances which disrupt ones thoughts, speech, and behavior. According to Paul Thompson, Associate Professor of Neurology, one percent of the world’s population suffers from this disorder. There is no one specific cause of schizophrenia, because it is caused by a combination of problems during development. It is a disorder which not only affects the patient, but their family and society as well. Schizophrenia can be a debilitating disorder, however, there are many treatments that can allow people who suffer from it to lead normal lives.