Associated symptoms
Like adults, children with schizophrenia do not only show the typical positive symptoms, such as Negative symptoms can also occur, for example: the younger the child, the more unspecific or hidden the symptoms. Positive symptoms therefore initially look like a particularly vivid imagination, while negative symptoms are often initially interpreted as tiredness or exhaustion. Schizophrenia actually leads to secondary symptoms such as exhaustion, concentration problems and in pronounced cases also to developmental delays, which often become apparent earlier than the actual schizophrenia.
Motor problems, i.e. movement disorders, can also be accompanying symptoms. In psychotic episodes, patients often show excessive movement, which manifests itself as tic disorders. In the case of pronounced negative symptoms, the child appears stiff and immobile, and the facial expressions and gestures come to a standstill in keeping with the emotional apathy.
- Madness
- Hallucinations
- Feeling of a mind control
- Emotional Damping
- Lack of drive and interest
- Cognitive losses
Diagnosis
There is no specific schizophrenia test for adults or children. The diagnosis therefore consists of the interrogation or observation of typical symptoms and various more non-specific tests that, among other things, test cognitive abilities. In addition, imaging and further examinations must always be performed to rule out other causes of the symptoms.
In the child, additional tests are carried out to assess the psychological and physical development. The diagnosis of schizophrenia, as mentioned above, is made by recording the symptoms. There are also standardized tests, for example in the form of questionnaires, which in principle ask the same questions as the doctor asks in the patient interview. however, these are designed for adults and are only used to assess risk, so they cannot replace a doctor’s consultation.Such questionnaires can be adapted according to the age of the child, but are hardly ever used. Therefore, tests to measure cognitive performance and the like are usually used, but not specific schizophrenia tests.
