Childhood Schizophrenia: What Are the First Signs? | Child Mind Institute

Dr. Rochelle Caplan

[vince]

as a child i always said i had a ‘big imagination’ but now i’m older and my ‘imagination’ has worsened but im thinking it’s more than that

[marypasquesi]

My 12 year old sister started developing schizophrenic episodes when she was turned 11 around the time the pandemic started. she heard voices in her head, saw shadows at night, and attempted to starve herself to death as a result. It’s heartbreaking to watch. Took her to a therapist for a month and it was not helpful at all. Our family didn’t take it seriously and we stopped seeking treatment. She has occasional psychosis and heavy bipolar episodes frequently. We have a very stressful childhood full of moving and fighting in the house. She was exposed to violence at a young age. My advice would be to give your child as normal of an experience as possible and LOTS OF LOVE!!! Keep them healthy and moving their body. My sister had absent parents, no passions or interests, overexposure to the ipad, and was not properly taken care of. Upbringing is everything. Protect kids before it’s too late

[psychosislove]

I am diagnosed schizoaffective, but the depression was from nurture, while my hallucinations and delusions were there since my very first memory. I had this one constant, positive voice, who told me not to tell anyone because no one would understand. Every time I tried to talk about my unusual ways of thinking and what not, no one listened because I was a child, and seemed to just simply have an over active imagination. I was bullied because of my delusions and weird ways of acting that other kids even knew weren't normal. But even my own parents told me to stop lying. It wasn't until I became suicidal at age 10 that they realized something was wrong, and my parents brought to a therapist who told them I only had depression. Never once talked to my parents about the voices. One day, around age 13, I had a huge fight with my Mom and the voices got louder and aggressive. I remember I ran to my room, slammed the door, and screamed over an over, "Make the voices stop!" My Mom then began to believe me. It took longer for my Dad to believe me. I eventually got some good care here and there, but ultimately my entire teen hood was full of medication trial and error and various therapist to therapist trips to find the right person for me to open up to. Around age 14 I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after finally being given an evaluation, but my parents still didn't understand what that meant. I can't tell you have many times I tried to die because even my own teachers either ignored me or bullied me, too. It wasn't until I turned 18 when I finally found the right medication. I was off of it for a few weeks, lost in delusions and hallucinations. I didn't want to take this next new med because all they did was make me worse. The only positive, constant voice I had made me take the new meds while I was on my way to the kitchen to kill myself with a knife. I am now 32 and still on that medication, stable and in control most of the time. My Mom understands me so much better now, but Dad, as much as he loves me, still to this day doesn't actually understand what I am going through mentally, but he tries. Both of my parents believe me now and I am married an amazing man who also has a mental illness. He and I balance each other out. I don't have a single memory of being alone in my head. I still hear that one voice, whom I named Una. And I have many positive voices that have taken it upon themselves to help me in all of my most difficult situations in different ways. My psychiatrist said as long as they are not harming me, and as I long as I get along with them, there is nothing to worry about. I am living such a better life now, but it would have been nice to have parents and adults believe me from the beginning. Maybe then I wouldn't have been suicidal.

[drawwithangel.]

When I was 6 I started seeing “shadow ppl” my mom said we’re just special bc she saw similar things- she was also schizophrenic. I started smelling a rotten smell that effected the food I ate but no one else smelled or tasted it. Now I’m hearing voices I was told I got diagnosed around the age of 10 and I’m still coping with this information

[actung]

This is great advice for me just in case I conceive a child with schizophrenia

[PorkChop]

Many of nights as a child were terrifying. From as young as I can remember I very often had dreams of murders taking place, and I was seeing it though the eyes of the killers. I would wake up terrified, and I would come up with a dumbed down story to tell my mother because I couldn't tell her what was really going on. I'm middle aged now, and those dreams still occur, but only on rare occasions, and now I know how to deal with them better.

[backtonad]

when she started talking about hallucinations, i looked at my door and got a bit scared

[jdcdggy]

I’m learning this because my parents won’t teach me. My parents are against diagnosis and therapists and say mental illness isn’t real so I have to learn myself even if they don’t like it

[enoch]

It could not have been more obvious from as early as age 4 what was happening to me yet it took til my mid 20's to get any real help.

[LivingDead]

My sister managed to survive me. Yeah... My healthcare was shitty when I had it and often didn't work in my state. I don't know how to fix it, but I think they should do a psych evaluation with every IEP and offer support to the family.

[AnaHernandez-ofsf]

My stepson has undiagnosed schizophrenia..He cannot have a normal conversation with anyone. He talks to himself and people with names who aren't there. He laughs uncontrollably at his hallucinations or gets extremely fixated on his delusional, extremely confused and anxious, violent and aggressive. He regularly assaults his teachers at school, his classmates and his mother and is constantly destroying things at home especially with knives ( He's obsessed with knives). He's on the iPad at his mother's 24/7 and barely eats or sleeps. He started high school this year and is already struggling at school.His mother is in complete denial and has him on antipsychotics for Autism, but the meds have only made him worse and more hallucinating and violent.

[sclark]

A sweet young woman I know, was recently diagnosed. I met her when she was 11, and she had a number of anxieties, irregular sleep, ritualistic behaviors, etc (and also enormous creativity and genius). I remember wondering if she were on the autism spectrum, and also wondering based on stories of her younger years, when she had shown terror in certain settings and around certain people, whether she had ever experienced assault when she was too little to understand what was happening. How does a clinician determine that it is in fact schizophrenia, and not another explanation, including a response to outside factors that may have been lifelong too? What are some factors to distinguish?

[jamnikel]

legitimate or not, i still fear what the truth in explaining the relations of her words, and the reoccurring issues i still have.

[Seattlefan]

Lol I used to think my mother was going to eat me as a child. To the point that I was terrified of going to sleep.
Also would see people running out of the closet when she'd wake me up at night to use the bathroom.

I was messed up as a kid

[towerofresonance]

I'm not going to self diagnose, but I went too many Many psychologists since the 1980s. First it was ADHD. At age 12, I started to manifest adult versions of myself to cope with extreme anxiety and repetitive voices. No age 38, I am on thiothixene 40mg a day. It's tiring. But i cant let them put their hands on my shoulders and tell me to eat their apple.

[cindyeisenberg]

I was irritable, depressed and anxious all of the time. I slept poorly being up most of the night. It was terrible. I had my first hallucinations at work when I was in my 30’s. Because of my behavior I lost my job. I have had a hard time my whole life and while growing up. I suffer from schizoaffective disorder. But, have never heard of that affecting children. Yet, my parents were bringing me to doctors as early as 3 years old when I regressed after my sister was born, but was unable to get back to baseline. I had problems with cutting myself and nothing helped the pain. I was hospitalized with depression. But, back in the dark ages, when I was young there were not good medications to help with the symptoms. I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Then, schizoaffective disorder. Because, I have the symptoms of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Also, I have had trouble with reasoning and learning, despite having an above normal intelligence test. I had a lot of problems growing up. Some of the symptoms are worse, now.

[alisha]

I’ve had schizophrenia since I was 6. And bipolar, and ADD. On several medications for 16 years starting at 6 years old. I’m 22 and I have to fight everyday. It sucks.

[HarveyFoFi]

I wonder how much is that is paranormal? We used to lived at a haunted house. I would feel the former owner of the house that just died, but my mom didn't believe me. She finally believe me when I stayed over my cousin's. She heard steps, & noises. We moved after that. Even the next door neighbor, that had a 20 year old, like the movie "My left foot" saw the owner walking in the back yard. Since I was a kid, I had hundreds of paranormal experiences, including a premonitions of the 9/11 WTC attacks the afternoon before. I saw NYC, & both tower covered in smoke. I was standing in between the towers.

[exile]

I was always scared to sleep alone when I was younger like around age 4-10 because I would just get super paranoid. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it though. When I was 13 I started smoking weed everyday and I’m 14 now and trying to stop but I’ve been having visual hallucinations and I’m really scared that I did something I can’t reverse. It’s all my fault.

[rlpp]

What happens to children with schizophrenia when they become adults, and how does it affect them in terms of brain development? Do children with schizophrenia grow up normally, or will they have developmental delays or imparements of some kind as adults? This is something i am really curious about as little to no research has been done on the topic, and what schizophrenia can do to a young developing brain. The human brain as they say is not fully formed until the age of 25, possibly even 30 depening on the person. As for schizophrenia, what exactly will happen to these children when their brains are fully mature? Will they have symptoms later in life, and experience any kind of moter delays, or devopmental delays that may impact them in any way? Or will the symptoms that they had as kids improve with age, and they no longer experience symptoms as adults? What exactly does schizophrenia do to a child, and like various other disorders, can it impact brain development or do these children develop normally in adulthood? If anybody has any answers i would like to hear it.