|
(See also Schizophrenia and Related Disorders: Schizophrenia.)
Schizophrenia
is defined as the presence of hallucinations and delusions causing
considerable psychosocial dysfunction and lasting ≥ 6 mo.
Onset of schizophrenia is typically from mid-adolescence to the mid-20s. Features in adolescents and young adults are quite similar (discussed in Schizophrenia and Related Disorders: Symptoms and Signs). Schizophrenia in prepubertal children is extremely rare; features are usually similar to those in adolescents and adults, but delusions and visual hallucinations (which may be more common in children) may be less elaborate.
Sudden-onset psychosis in a young child should always be treated as a medical emergency with a thorough medical assessment to search for a physiologic cause of the mental status change (eg, Wilson's disease, the porphyrias, HIV infection, brain trauma).
Last full review/revision November 2005
Content last modified November 2005
| 
