Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:758-762
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Childhood schizophrenia: present but not accounted for
S Cantor, J Evans, J Pearce and T Pezzot-Pearce
The subjects of this study were 19 children and 11 adolescents who had been
psychotic since childhood and who satisfied DSM-III criteria for
schizophrenia except for the stipulation that a "deterioration from a
previous level of functioning" must have occurred. Seven subjects had had
documented signs of psychosis before the age of 30 months. The presence of
thought disorder precluded giving these 7 subjects the diagnosis of early
infantile autism. The authors argue that only symptoms and signs, not age
at onset, can define a disorder. They also emphasize that in children and
adolescents, developmental issues influence the clinical presentation.
