What is the difference between childhood schizophrenia and paranoid schizophrenia?
Childhood-onset schizophrenia simply means that the onset of schizophrenia occurred while the person was a child or under the age of 14…and they still are a child. Some of the children have paranoid schizophrenia (a sub-type of schizophrenia) but the diagnosis will continue to be childhood-onset schizophrenia until they are older than 14. Childhood-onset schizophrenia is very rare. 1% of the population of the world has schizophrenia. 1% of that group has or had childhood-onset schizophrenia. The prognosis for childhood-onset schizophrenia is generally poor. These children have a 50% chance of being able to function as an adult and a 50% chance of requiring assistance for their lifetime. Many are placed in residential homes because they are often treatment resistant since only one anti-psychotic has been approved for use in children. The rest of the anti-psychotics are either only somewhat helpful for children or produce side effects to severe to be used on a regular basis.
