Schizophrenia it is a very complex disease to determine in children, but it can be determined as such and with more precision from the age of 18. If your child is schizophrenic, it has probably been done exceptional follow-up to have to reach a very conclusive diagnosis.
Children under 13 years of age are not usually classified as schizophrenia since they have not yet developed sufficient cognitive maturity for you to determine. That is why, although there are indications this disorder is not usually anticipated and on other occasions it is often confused with other conditions such as depression or behavioral disturbances.
When is a child schizophrenic?
Schizophrenia is a chronic disease that has its appearance from an early age. Specialists do not usually determine it as yes, because children have not formalized their cognitive development. If it is diagnosed from infancy, it can improve many long-term results and advance future treatments.
When a child is schizophrenic, he has cognitive or thinking-related problems, his emotions are disordered and has an alteration in his behavior. Your child's ability to lead a normal life will be limited as he may present delusions, hallucinations and disorders in their thinking and behavior.
Common symptoms in childhood schizophrenia
As we have pointed out, childhood schizophrenia turns out to be very difficult to diagnose in the first stage of life. In addition, the behavior of a minor with this disease can be different than that of an adult. In its first phase it can appear and already retract a child in his crawl, in speech or when he begins to walk.
Older children begin to have confusion in their way of acting, speaking and thinking. The mood is changeable and they have hallucinations such as seeing or hearing things that are not real. In addition, they have an unusual language where they become eccentric and one way that makes them stand out is the neglect of your body hygiene.
They feel a very evident anxiety and they are accentuated much more with delusions, since they think that "they are chasing him" or "that they are constantly talking about him." They do not manifest their reality as such, but rather they feel a bewilderment with what they hear on television or with your own dreams.
How parents should act with a schizophrenic child
It is difficult to adapt a new reality situation to a child diagnosed with schizophrenia. You have to create a family structure and follow the same path that you would with any other child. Parents they must adapt new changes to handle the situation in another way and think that the treatment should not be different.
The attitude should be positive Faced with new challenges, do not complain and do not criticize the child's behavior. If you confront your child, you may not achieve effective results, but rather create a negative environment.
You have to create and enhance your own autonomy, do not leave or meet their needs with praise. The child may protest against the refusal to do something or criticize his position, but that does not put him aside in order to reinforce a much more positive attitude with compliments and affections.
If the child has problems with delusions and hallucinations, you have to try to find reality, with patience and affection. The form of expression and communication of adults is a factor that matters, if we train our way of communication, great advances will be made. The tone of voice should be soft, affectionate and safely. No insecurities should be noticed and you have to be simple, brief and that there is nothing to distract our dialogue.
Something to note is that these children on some special and extreme occasions can have suicidal thoughts. In these cases you have to have a lot of patience, knowing how to control the situation and make sure you have a phone on hand to call emergencies. It should not be forgotten that in the face of any evidence of schizophrenia and with respect to all the aforementioned symptoms, we must try to reduce all these episodes with help from a specialist. An early and effective treatment will help to tackle the long-term results much better.