THE AGE OF ONSET OF CHILDHOOD SCHIZOPHRENIA

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Abstract
Summary: The aim of this article based on a pilot study of 50 schizophrenic children under the age of 15 is to point out that the onset of schizophrenic disorders tends not to occur in late childhood between ages 5 and 10. This gap of incidence pertinent to the age of onset may serve to raise two important questions, namely (1) whether or not we are dealing with the same entity and (2) why schizophrenic disorder does not manifest itself in this particular period if we assume that we are dealing with schizophrenia. Although the present knowledge does not answer those questions, it was shown that the periods of vulnerability for schizophrenic disorder are those in which massive qualitative changes occur in biological as well as in psychological and sociological equilibriums.In addition, it was suggested that the term “childhood schizophrenia” should be used to denote earlier schizophrenic manifestation with regression other than such specific types described by Kanner or Mahler, since it is likely that there is no childhood schizophrenia with an onset in late childhood that could be correctly called “schizophrenia in older children”. Prepubescent and pubescent schizophrenia may not deserve to be called “childhood schizophrenia” for it does not have any unique features and could be understood merely as an antecedant appearance of adult schizophrenia.

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