What are the causes of schizophrenia in children?

Childhood schizophrenia is a common mental illness. The probability of children suffering from schizophrenia is lower than that of adults, but the harm is also very great. Patients will have obvious language disorders and emotional disorders, as well as obvious thinking disorders, causing the patient's behavior and activities to become very abnormal. The main causes of childhood schizophrenia that have been discovered so far are as follows.

1. Genetic factors

The incidence of a genetic history of mental illness in the family of children with this disease is relatively high (16% to 64%).

2. Organic factors

It is common for children with this disease to have a history of perinatal damage. Delayed maturation of the nervous system, soft signs in neurological examinations, and electroencephalogram abnormalities are also common. In recent years, studies have found that the latency period of the P300 evoked potential in children with schizophrenia is significantly shortened and the amplitude is reduced; results of head CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and other studies suggest that damage to the frontal lobe, basal ganglia, and temporal lobe are closely related to schizophrenia.

3. Psychosocial factors

It is common for children to develop schizophrenia due to severe mental trauma, such as parental divorce, death of relatives, failure to continue education and other life events. Psychosocial factors also have an important impact on the continuation of the disease and prognosis.

4. Personality traits before illness

Children with this disease are mostly introverted before the onset of the disease. On the basis of their abnormal or unhealthy personality, they are affected by environmental factors, which increases the risk of developing the disease.

5. Biochemical factors

It is generally believed that this disease is related to excessive activity of the central dopaminergic system and insufficient noradrenergic function. Some studies have found that children with this disease have increased plasma dopamine β-hydroxylase and inhibited choleretic system.