Symptoms of mental illness in children

Some diseases will manifest themselves from an early age, while some diseases will only gradually manifest themselves as people grow up. Some patients with mental illness will show particularly obvious symptoms from an early age. For example, children often talk nonsense, and some behaviors and performances are different from other children. These may indicate that the child has mental problems. Let’s take a look at some of the symptoms of mental illness in children.

Schizophrenia can occur in both adults and children and is a relatively common mental illness among children. The prevalence of schizophrenia in children is lower than that in adults. According to foreign reports, the prevalence of schizophrenia in children under 15 years old is 0.14% to 0.34%. Domestic literature reports that the prevalence of schizophrenia in children is 0.05% to 0.08%, with the ratios for boys and girls being similar. The incidence of onset before the age of 10 is relatively small, while the incidence of onset after the age of 10 increases significantly. The youngest age of onset is 3 years old, and the majority of patients are 12 to 14 years old.

1. Onset

The onset is usually slow, and the acute onset increases with age.

2. Early symptoms

The early symptoms of schizophrenia in children mainly include changes in mood and behavior, sleep disorders, inattention, learning difficulties, etc. Some cases also develop obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors in the early stages.

3. Basic symptoms and characteristics

(1) Clinical symptoms are closely related to age factors. The symptoms of young patients are atypical, monotonous and poor; the basic symptoms of adolescent patients gradually become similar to those of adults.

(2) Emotional disorders are often characterized by loneliness, withdrawal, and apathy, as well as alienation from family and friends or the development of hostility for no reason. Symptoms include unreasonable fear, anxiety, tension, spontaneous mood swings, etc.

(3) Speech and thinking disorders: Young cases often show reduced speech, mutism, stereotyped repetition, unclear speech, and poor thinking content. Older children may have pathological hallucinations, bizarre delusions, and often delusions of persecution, guilt, hypochondria, and non-bloodline.

(4) Perceptual disorders. The perceptual disorders of children with schizophrenia are often vivid and characterized by terror and imagery. They may include visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations (verbal or non-verbal), fantasy hallucinations, and perceptual complex disorders (such as believing that one is deformed or ugly). These are especially common in adolescent children.

(5) Abnormal movements and behaviors, often manifested as restlessness, disordered behavior, aimless running, or laziness, sluggishness, dullness, lack of movement, or strange movements or postures, often with imitative movements or ritualistic stereotyped movements. A small number of children show catatonic stupor and excitement, impulsive, hurtful and destructive behavior.

(6) Intellectual motor impairment is mainly seen in children with early onset of the disease. Most cases generally have no obvious intellectual disability.