Schizophrenia in Children

[7DSUSYstrings]

Hi Folks,

This is more of a query than a discussion about something of which I'm an expert. This is a fascinating area of psychology, still I've only seen some rare instances in "Man Against Himself," by Karl Menninger, for example, where children can suffer from schizophrenia at an early age, or other psychological disorders brought about by extreme pressures from parents, per se. I'm looking into this for the sake of one child.

Einstein's first son ended up spending his life in a sanitorium because of this disoreder. It was one of his greatest fears that the genes of schizophrenia would be passed on to him from his first wife, Mileva. How soon can the symptoms show up? Most books say this usually begins in adolescence. Rarely it can happen earlier, so how can we truly know when a child is simply being a child with an imagination or they really are seeing invisible friends via halucination?

The child I'm concerned about drew something that I recognized as potentially being schizophrenic art. As of yet I've been unable to find any web sites that have examples of schizophrenic art (split faces, dismemberments, etc.) that I can use for comparison before I bring it to anyone's attention.

Can anyone here think of the right keywords for a search or know of any sites that have some of this art?

Dr. C.

[Thunderbird]

I’m no expert my folks both worked with schizophrenics in the mental health field collectively for over sixty years, and my father grandfather and brother have had episodes of paranoid delusions.

My father’s paranoia was at a time centered on me because of some of my artwork as a child. I TURNED OUT JUST FINE. Opps hit the cap locks. Anyway from what I know the delusional episode’s can manifest around 17-23.

[7DSUSYstrings]

The artwork issue was brought to my attention by an art instructor. A fellow student had made some artwork that totally rearranged faces and bothered the psych instructor. Makes me gald most of my own work centers around scientific concepts and such. I may check out some of the other threads in this area.

I watched a move once called "A Beautiful Mind." Russel Crowe played Dr. John Nash. I wonder if the movie gave a true impression of what halucinations truly are.

[Geneticist12]

I would suggest typing schizophrenia art into google images.

[7DSUSYstrings]

Geneticist12,

Thank you for the suggestion. I suppose "a day late and dollar short " because I already did that finally with success. I am convinced that this child was suffering from a schizophrenic psychosis at a very young age (7 and maybe even before) with visual halucinations. There is nothing I can do at this point to help because the boy is now a young adult. I only wish I'd seen this earlier. The likelihood of his being schizophrenic are high because his mother had been institutionalized with delusional behavior and I noticed it in her after the fact. It is possible they depend on one another's psychosis and don't even realize it.
Sometimes I find the only way to cope with schizo's is to play along and kid about my "invisible green friends," but I tend to think we both know mental illness is no joke. I'm a believer in God and destiny. I think sometimes we are stuck in certain places to learn certain things for some greater purpose we may not initially understand. Where I live, this county has the highest count of autism in the state. All I can really do is be kind and observe...

Dr. C.

[arkain101]

Thanks,

You've given me an idea to look into a diagnosis for the symptoms I had as a child. Maybe I will ask on here.