I am writing a screenplay that involves a character who is born with schizophrenia. First off can babies have schizophrenia? if so how do they show it? how do doctors figure it out?
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Babies and schizophrenia
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Im not sure if its something you can be born with but I do know that the large majority of the time it appears in adolescence.
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Schizophrenia is at least partly genetic. However, though babies are born with the bad genes, as leelee said, it usually doesn't manifest itself until late teens or early twenties. It can develop earlier - see this Mayo Clinic article on childhood schizophrenia - but even in that article on the second page they say "When childhood schizophrenia begins very early in life --- perhaps even at age 6, 7 or 8 --- symptoms may build up gradually", which suggests it is not likely to be seen in babies.
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okay so then are there any types of psychosis that babies (at the age of 3) can have and show symptoms of? and even be sent to an insane asylum for at an age of 4?
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A three year old wouldn't be called a baby - at that age they are walking and talking and usually toilet-trained. I have never heard of a child that young being committed to a mental institution, except in the context of a despotic government that wants mental defectives out of society (e.g. Hitler's Germany or Ceaucescu's Romania). Autism (but not psychosis) can show up by then, but even if a children so young are mentally impaired, there is little reason for them to go into an institution. They are unlikely to be a danger to themselves or others, and parents expect that they will need a lot of care at that age anyway, so are prepared to give it.It's more likely to be the other way round - babies and young children sent to a bad orphanage that gives no care and attention will then suffer mental consequences.
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awesome, thank you ineligible that helps immensely
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I'm watching a program, "20/20" on ABC about childhood schizophrenia. It reminded me of this post. you might be able to find clips of it later.
One of the little girls (she's 7 now) was diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia didn't sleep more than 20-30 minutes at a time. They showed a home video of the same child and the parents commented in it that she was starring intently at something, that they couldn't see. -
More recent research has shed more light on this if anyione is listening. Schizophrenia may be detected in infancy, high correlations have been found between certain motor behaviors and schizophrenia, there are other biomarkers being investigated as well. Please see "Abnormal Infant Neurodevelopment Predicts Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders by Barbara Fish, Kenneth S. Kendler | Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology ( New York ) | 2005-06 | volume 15:issue 3 | pg. 348"
Also there is older research on this subject as well "Prediction of Adult-Onset Schizophrenia from Childhood Home Movies of the Patients" by Walker, Elaine & Lewine, Richard J in The American Journal of Psychiatry; Aug 1990; volume 147, issue 8; pg. 1052"