Symptoms in children | Schizophrenia

Symptoms in children

Schizophrenia is a relatively rare disease in children and boys. Unfortunately, the prognosis of the disease depends to a large extent on the age of onset and is therefore worse in children than in adults. The first symptoms of schizophrenia in children are often very unspecific, such as thinking disorders, and are often trivialized and attributed to the developmental process.

As a result, most childhood schizophrenia is not correctly diagnosed until a later age. Other early symptoms of schizophrenia may include disturbances in physical, mental and social development. For example, it can be observed that language acquisition usually occurs several months to years later than in other children, as well as moderate to severe coordination problems and muscle weakness.

In addition, there are affective fluctuations, such as a pronounced irritability, bizarre behavior or a feeling of listlessness. There is also often a deficit of social interest. In addition to these early symptoms, however, the entire spectrum of symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations, delusions, hearing voices, etc., can develop during the course of the illness.

Is there a safe test for schizophrenia?

There is no really safe test for any disease in psychiatric medicine. Especially schizophrenia is not a uniform disease, because every patient has a very individual character and shows different symptoms. It is therefore difficult to objectify psychological abnormalities by means of a test and is simply impossible with such complex diseases as schizophrenia.

Instead, the diagnosis is made by recording typical symptoms and excluding other causes. For this reason, a detailed physical and neurological examination and at least one imaging of the brain must first be performed before tests can be performed to detect schizophrenia. Drug abuse as a cause of the symptoms must also be excluded.

The tests that are then carried out do not directly detect schizophrenia, but rather typical thinking disorders that can occur in this disease. There is therefore no real schizophrenia test or questionnaire, as is the case with depression, for example, but only general tests of cognitive performance and psychological well-being. Since there is no reliable schizophrenia test, as mentioned above, the disease cannot be adequately diagnosed by online tests.

Most schizophrenic patients do not believe they are ill anyway, and would therefore not take such a test of their own accord. Nevertheless, such online offerings can be helpful in identifying disturbing symptoms in oneself or a relative, classifying them correctly and having them clarified by a doctor. Online tests cannot therefore provide a reliable diagnosis, but they can point the person concerned or their relatives in the right direction and thus guide them to professional help.