Schizophrenia is a disorder that rarely begins to appear in childhood. However, this unfortunately happens in some cases. There is childhood schizophrenia and, as in adults, children experience hallucinations and delusions that in these cases can be confused with childish things or “imaginary friends”.
As with adults, early intervention will greatly improve the prognosis of the disorder, so to understand this phenomenon a good idea is to delve into the peculiarities of childhood schizophrenia, so an initial diagnosis of this disorder whenever it is performed by a specialist?it can mitigate its impact on a child’s life, but for this to be possible, a real race against time must begin.
Childhood schizophrenia is not a very common disorder, and that is part of the reason ignorance exists.
Like many other disorders, childhood schizophrenia has a significant genetic burden, so this disorder is more likely to appear in the family if people have or have had schizophrenia. Some studies also link childhood schizophrenia to a family history of anxiety disorders or ADHD.
However, there are other circumstances that may be associated with this disorder, for example, if there were complications during childbirth that led to abnormal neurological development, it is also necessary to be careful if at any time the oxygen flow in the child’s brain has decreased. or even stopped altogether. Knowing this can shed light on the development of the disease.
In childhood, schizophrenia becomes a chronic disease, so any type of treatment will be for life.
How do I know if a child has this disorder?To do this it is necessary to observe if you think you hear generally negative and unpleasant voices, and if you think you see things, such as people, objects or colors that don’t really exist, it’s important to pay close attention. to all this, as parents can confuse alarm signals with “imaginary friends. “In any case, the last word regarding the diagnosis should be that of a specialist.
As we mentioned at the beginning, childhood schizophrenia does not have a very encouraging prognosis, in fact, the earlier this disorder appears in a person’s life, the greater the impact it usually has on their life, the greater the influence of the disorder. In that case, we’re talking about children.
In addition, it is in childhood that children begin to talk, walk and develop motor skills, if the child suffers from schizophrenia all these aspects will be influenced, children grimace and remain in unusual positions, may have difficulty socializing and will find it very difficult to express ideas coherently.
Therefore, this disorder, during the child’s development, can negatively affect the evolution of other processes such as language, motor skills or socialization. Children diagnosed with this disorder generally have difficulty expressing themselves naturally and will say strange things, even to the mind. as open and imaginative as children’s.
How can psychology deal with a problem like this?First, an attempt will be made to stop the aggravation of the situation with a drug treatment that seeks to balance the child and contain the symptoms, in addition, this treatment will allow the psychologist to work with the child in better condition, because when the symptoms are controlled, the child will show a more receptive attitude.
Once the pharmacological treatment is regulated, it is important to carry out an in-depth work in which the child learns to differentiate what is hallucination from what is reality, it is also necessary to work on motor skills and language so that the delay, if any, it is as short as possible.
Likewise, the scope of social interactions cannot be overlooked, the child with schizophrenia must acquire the necessary tools to enable socialization with other children his age, in this sense it is also important to work with parents, orienting them towards the most positive reactions in certain circumstances. situations in which the child may be involved because of the disorder, in this sense it is very important to aware the social environment in which the child is inserted.
Schizophrenia in children can be diagnosed from the first year
Early diagnosis is extremely important, especially for children, if we let symptoms get worse and then look for a professional and find out what’s going on, the progression of the disorder will be much higher and expectations for improvement will be significantly reduced. Shouldn’t we think it’s childish stuff? Because, perhaps, over time, we can realize that it was a warning cry about what was going on.