According to Erik Erikson in the psychosocial human development theory, children are aged 13 and below, while adolescents are aged between 13 and 19. From the Schizophrenia prospective, it is rare for children and adolescents to suffer from this mental disorder. Having said that, children who display Schizophrenia symptoms are very hard to bring up as the disorder affect their ability to think and function like normal kids.

Symptoms of Children with Schizophrenia

Children and adolescents with Schizophrenia suffer from hallucinations, delusions and distorted thinking, similar symptoms to an adult Schizophrenic patient, except few small variations. There can be a gradual shift in the behavior pattern of a child or adolescent with Schizophrenia. From being balanced and predictable, they can turn into unbalanced and unpredictable individuals. Children with Schizophrenia tend to stick with their parents all the time, they do not enjoy playing and chatting with other kids, they lose interest in most of the activities, face difficulty in concentrating on studies and their school performance degrades. School teachers are often first to notice their aberrant behavior first.

Treatment

To treat children and adolescents with Schizophrenia, group therapy, family therapy and atypical antipsychotic drugs are commonly used. The usual practice is for parents to take the child to a pediatrician and ask him to refer the child to a child or adolescent psychiatrist who is efficient in diagnosis, assessment and treatment of Schizophrenia in children and adolescents. Parents must try their best to encourage the child to participate in different activities in school that help to treat the mental disorder.

Understanding Schizophrenia in Children and Adolescents

For aptly understanding of childhood and adolescent Schizophrenia, parents must consult psychiatrist who has experience in dealing with children and adolescents. There are few instances when one might get confused whether a child has Schizophrenia or not:

1. Having imaginary friends and talking to unreal things - Children around the age of 3 years old usually have imaginary friends or play with and talk to their toys; this is a fairly normal characteristic of children at this age. However, if such a characteristic is found in a 12 years old child or in a 15 years old adolescent, then parents need to be concerned, they must talk to the child and understand what he is feeling and must consult a pediatrician or a psychologist.

2. Grievance of losing a friend or family - An adolescent can feel sad over losing family member or a close friend, among other things. He might avoid going out and not talk to anyone. During such times, people around him are usually in dilemma if this is something to do with schizophrenia, especially when the family has history of schizophrenia. At this point of time, it is recommended to talk to the adolescent and bring him in to a psychiatrist for counseling. These symptoms can either be temporary depression or due to an early onset of Schizophrenia.

It is definitely a challenging job to differentiate the Schizophrenic symptoms from the characteristics of a normal child yourself. If you suspect your child displays Schizophrenia symptoms, always seek help from a professional or a psychologist to help in the diagnosis.