Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders in Children and Adolescents
Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental ailment, which is characterized by disordered thoughts, abnormal and anti-social behaviors. Youth suffering from schizophrenia may have dubious contemplations about other people, and more often than not, hear voices that other people don’t hear. These are known as positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include lack of expressiveness, low motivation, and disinterest in social relationships. Schizophrenia is infrequent among children.
Types of Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
There are different types of schizophrenia, each enveloping a characteristic set of symptoms across various time periods:
How And When Schizophrenia Is Diagnosed
Typically a psychologist or psychiatrist will diagnose Schizophrenia with the help of interviews, standardized testing and a medical evaluation.
Schizophrenia can appear at any age, but it is difficult to diagnose it in teens. It cannot be diagnosed in a person younger than 12 years. For females, the typical onset age for Schizophrenia is the late 20’s or early 30’s, and in males, it typically is first diagnosed in the late teens or early 20’s. It is uncommon to diagnose schizophrenia after the 40’s in both genders.
Treatment
Schizophrenia can be treated with the help of medications and therapies.
First-generation antipsychotics used to manage different symptoms of schizophrenia are chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, loxapine, perphenazine, thiothixene, and trifluoperazine. Second-generation antipsychotics used in the treatment of schizophrenia are aripiprazole, asenapine, olanzapine, Ziprasidone, and many more. Some medicines such as haloperidol, Risperdal are long-term injectables, as they are convenient for some patients who cannot take medicines on a daily basis.
People with Schizophrenia often face problems with effective social skills. Social skills training is necessary to teach them the appropriate way to interact with others as well as how to express emotions correct manner.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on both cognitions and behaviors of a person. The individual suffering from schizophrenia teaches the person how to cope with different life challenges. This therapy assists patients in identifying the triggers of illness and teaches them how to lessen these triggers to bring down the possibility of relapse. CBT assists patients in learning realistic exposition of events. In managing voices and other hallucinations, cognitive behavioral therapy imparts different coping techniques.
Parental Support For Their Youth With Schizophrenia
Parents and the family environment are important in the treatment of individuals with schizophrenia; parents can assist the process of recovery in different ways.
Individuals with schizophrenia often deny their illness. In the beginning, it is hard for youth to take medicines, or they forget about their medications. Parents can help them by reminding them about their medications. Engaging them in meaningful physical activities is also proven to be helpful in their recovery.
Parents can help their loved ones by communicating with them frequently. The chances of suicide in a schizophrenic youth increase as the feelings of loneliness increase, so staying in touch and taking care of them can help the young person to feel connected to people who care.
