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Children and Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder that affects about 1 percent of the population during their lifetime. Symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and social withdrawal. Schizophrenia appears to be extremely rare in children; more typically, the illness emerges in late adolescence or early adulthood. However, research studies are revealing that various cognitive and social impairments may be evident early in children who later develop schizophrenia. These and other findings may lead to the development of preventive interventions for children.

Only in this decade have researchers begun to make significant headway in understanding the origins of schizophrenia. In the emerging picture, genetic factors, which confer susceptibility to schizophrenia, appear to combine with other factors early in life to interfere with normal brain development. These developmental disturbances eventually appear as symptoms of schizophrenia many years later, typically during adolescence or young adulthood. A number of new, effective medications for schizophrenia have been introduced during the past decade.

Information provided by the National Institute of Mental Health

Children and Mental Health