Childhood schizophrenia

What is schizophrenia?
The understanding schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by symptoms that prevail in various dissociative phenomena psychic (gr.schizen = a break and fren = soul).

Schizophrenia is a devastating and tragic disease that primarily affects people of younger age, being a major cause of significant disability, and secondly, we can not talk about specific therapies and effective in all cases.
The average lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is 0.4% -1.4% average annual incidence is 0.20 per 1000.
Age of onset is lower in males (between 15 and 25) as opposed to women in the age of onset is about 26.8 years.
Ratio is 2 / 1 in favor of men.
Therefore, the disease occurs in adolescence or young adults, persons with highly developed intelligence as part of any social or cultural group.
Analysis of socio-economic highlights the high frequency of illness in an unmarried or widowed persons, some studies draw attention to the poor economic situation that could increase the risk of about 8 times, and culture would eventually influence the content delirelor could increase tolerance and respect the patient's family decreases addressability to the doctor.

What causes schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a plurifactoriala etiology, an individual can be the bearer of a genetic predisposition, but this vulnerability is expressed only in front of some environmental factors that could cause mutations or could influence gene expression.
Genetic component is not enough, relatives of schizophrenic patients have a 10% risk of developing the disease in life, children with one schizophrenic parent presents a risk of 5-6%, compared to 46% in those with both parents ill .
Some relatives of individuals with schizophrenia have an increased risk for mental disorders a group called schizophrenia spectrum which include schizoaffective disorder, schizotypal disorder, paranoid personality disorder, schizoid and avoidant.
In addition to genetic transmission, its demonstrated an imbalance in the metabolism of neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, GABA, peptides).
Other infectious and immunologic hypotheses are: virozele mother during pregnancy predispose the child to schizophrenia, are well aware of the Toxoplasma in this respect.
Leaves the immunological assumptions according to which there are observations of increased levels of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) and circulating lymphocytes and peripheral abnormalities (increase and decrease T lymphocytes B lymphocytes).

What are the symptoms?
Onset is insidious disease. It describes a negative phase in which the Fund emphasizes emotional signs of decline, with narrow interests, reducing the activity of play, especially one that looks play with other children. Over time, the game takes on a character autistic child plays alone, with absent or imaginary partner, with subjects taken from books and not in his life or the environment, with a tendency to animate objects and make them play partners , changing the rules. The child said, "are horse 'or' locomotive 'and behave as such. Social contacts poorest children withdraw and close itself.
The other children play is totally replaced by other concerns inappropriate for their age (livresti or a contemplative or reflective attitude and not affected).
However, a child is not necessarily a future bizarrely schizophrenic. An assessment of mental status and proper living conditions, clear appearance of hallucinations of schizophrenia can lead to suspicion even if there is minimal associated symptoms.
A child or adolescent with schizophrenia may present a severe deterioration in the ability to function in social activities, personal and common life. Signs and symptoms of the disease, which usually is known as generic psychosis include:
- Hearing voices or experiencing sensory events that are not there (hallucinations)
- Support of false beliefs about reality (delusions)
- Thought disorganization
- Irrational behavior, deeply disorganized
- Physical immobility
- Excessive mobility, but without purpose
- Absent or inappropriate emotional expression situation
- Reduced verbal communication with other people
- Inability to make plans.
When childhood schizophrenia is very early onset disease manifests itself gradually and builds up to the first psychotic episode. Early signs of the disease may be social withdrawal, disruptive behavior, school problems, problems of language and speech or other developmental delays. These early signs are not specific to childhood schizophrenia and may indicate a variety of other ailments.
In adolescence, schizophrenia can, too, to begin gradually, but this group is often sudden onset of psychotic symptoms and deterioration in care and function than younger children.