Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia

             Schizophrenia only rarely appears during childhood or adolescence; the typical age of onset is usually between the late teenage years and mid-thirties (First 281). The clinical and neurobiological characteristics of the disorder are the same in adults and children (Kumra), and therefore the same criteria can be used to diagnose patients of all ages (Schaeffer 538). Despite this fact, schizophrenia is rarely and very reluctantly diagnosed in children. This is partly because many physicians and psychiatrists do not even believe that childhood-onset schizophrenia exists (Schaeffer 539), and also because it is hard to distinguish between schizophrenia and other childhood disorders such as Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder (First 281). It is believed that childhood-onset schizophrenia is "continuous with the adolescent- and adult-onset versions of the disorder" (Schaeffer 538), and the process of the disease is similar for both groups (Kumra). However, children with schizophrenia often have "more severe premorbid neurodevelopmental abnormalities, more cytogenetic anomalies, and potentially greater family histories of schizophrenia and related spectrum disorders" (Kumra). This type of evidence suggests that children with schizophrenia have a much stronger genetic contribution toward the disorder than adults (Kumra). Patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia often have a poorer outcome in comparison to those who do not develop the disease until adulthood, especially in terms of social, educational, and career achievements (Kumra).
             Although genetics is almost certainly the most powerful cause of childhood-onset schizophrenia, there are other factors that may contribute to the early development of the disorder. Some of these factors are complications during birth, an early case of encephalitis, a deficiency in the volume of whole brain and grey matter (Clark 1072), and chromosomal abnormalities (Kumra).