Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia and Early-onset Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: An Update

The clinical severity, impact on development, and poor prognosis of childhood-onset schizophrenia may represent a more homogeneous group. Positive symptoms in children are necessary for the diagnosis, and hallucinations are more often multimodal. In healthy children and children with a variety of other psychiatric illnesses, hallucinations are not uncommon and diagnosis should not be based on these alone. Childhood-onset schizophrenia is an extraordinarily rare illness that is poorly understood but seems continuous with the adult-onset disorder. Once a diagnosis is confirmed, aggressive medication treatment combined with family education and individual counseling may prevent further deterioration.