Psychosis, Symptoms In Children And Adolescents

Psychosis, symptoms in children and adolescents

Most psychotic episodes occur more frequently in children and adolescents who do not necessarily present a significant pathology. If the frequency of these episodes is constant, these can create a functional deterioration and an increase in risk to trigger a psychopathology. “Psychotic experiences can be defined as subclinical psychotic phenomena, such as perceptual abnormalities and mental disturbance experiences as in the absence of manifest psychotic disease.”(Sigtta, Gaweda, Moritz, & Karow, 2018).

The fundamental problem of psychosis is that the dominant social symptom is neurosis, thus the psychotic finds an imposition to refer to a paternal instance. The anguish in psychosis outside of crisis is related to character.  In this way it can be explained, as a traumatic event in childhood life can bring or trigger different types of psychosis, even people who do not have a psychotic structure. With this we refer to the fact that there are even people without any psychopathology with different abuses in their childhood could experience episodes of psychotic type and sometimes extreme trigger a pathology.

At the time a person experiences some traum. Psychodynamic theory if it supports the explanation of psychosis and as a traumatic event can trigger it, despite excluding internal aspects of the human being, such as genetics.

Long -term consequences of trauma in childhood

PREPT is a chronic disorder.

No treatment, post -traumatic stress syndrome and post -traumatic stress disorder dissolves at a very slow speed. In fact, emotional, behavioral, cognitive and social sequelae residual for childhood trauma persist and seem to contribute to a series of neuropsychiatric problems throughout life.

Traumatic stress in childhood increases the risk of attachment problems, eating disorders, depression, suicidal behavior, anxiety, alcoholism, violent behaviors, mood disorders and, of course, the PTSD, to name a few. Traumatic stress also affects other aspects of physical health throughout life. Adults victims of sexual abuse in childhood are more likely to have childbirth difficulties, a variety of gastrointestinal and gynecological disorders and other somatic problems such as chronic pain, headaches and fatigue. The study of adverse experiences in childhood (Adverse Childhood Experiences) (see resources) examined exposure to seven categories of adverse events during childhood (for example, sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessing violence at home: events associated with theincreased risk of posttraumatic stress disorder).

This study found a gradual relationship between the number of adverse events in childhood and the results obtained from health and disease of adults examined (for example, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, and risk behaviors)). With four or more adverse childhood events, the risk of several medical conditions increased from 4 – to 12 times.

We can define as psychotic to those children who do not distinguish between their internal reality (fantasies and ghosts) and the external world. These children have a perception of altered reality. So that their fears live as something real. This disorder affects the child’s development, behavior and personality.

Sometimes child psychosis has been wrongly confused with autism, however, psychotic children do not have to present an attitude of isolation in which contact with others is avoided. Child psychosis is usually based on a distortion of reality. It is not common for psychosis to begin before the age of 12, however, some cases of child psychosis may occur. Although there is enough diversity of adaptation, many of the children who experience child psychosis can become adults with difficulties in their social relationships.

Child psychosis

The symptoms of child psychosis are similar to those that appear in adults. Here we detail the main psychotic symptoms in a child:

Positive symptoms in early start psychosis

• Hallucinations: hallucinations are sensory perceptions in the absence of an external stimulus. That is, see, hear, feel, smell things that are not present. A person who is suffering from hallucination can see things that do not exist or listen to people to speak when they are alone.
• Delus: They are false beliefs that are not based on acts of reality. For example, you think you are going to be damaged or injured;that certain comments or gestures are directed to you;that you have an exceptional ability or fame;Another person is in love with you;or that a great catastrophe will happen. Delusions occur in most people with schizophrenia.
• Alterations in language and thought: this interferes with communication and understanding of reality. Become disorganized and incoherent.
• Suspicion or distrust of others.

Compared to adults, young people and adolescents tend to have more hallucinations, but less delusions.

Negative symptoms in child psychosis

• Difficulties to relate to others
• Difficulties in understanding and expressing emotions
• Absence of spontaneity
• Problems to understand jokes, very literal language

Certain psychotic symptoms alter psychosocial, cognitive development and performance in everyday life and can be frequent in childhood and adolescence. They are even common in children who have suffered some type of trauma (physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse). In the severity of psychosis, environmental factors such as drugs or stress are involved.

The disease that is usually associated with psychosis, schizophrenia, usually does not manifest until too late in adolescence or principles of adulthood. However, recently, experts in the field have been working to identify high -risk children who show symptoms that could serve as early signs of psychosis warning and several academic centers have been established to concentrate in this crucial period inthe one that may be possible to change the trajectory of mental illness.

Not all children who are identified with what experts call "prodromic" symptoms will progress, or "will be transformed", to an established psychotic illness. But it has been shown that early intervention improves the results for those in whom it does happen. And since psychotic symptoms cause disorder in the life of a teenager, from school to friendships and family, researchers expect rapid measures to prevent alteration and prolong the characteristic characteristic functioning.

Moreover, some of the approaches that show being promising to delay the beginning of psychosis or mitigate symptoms include quite simple changes in lifestyle, such as stress reduction and sleep hygiene, and manage disorders that occur tosame time, like anxiety. The key: identify earlier at high -risk children when these low -impact measures are still effective.

Psychosis after all, is the catastrophe of the subject, arising from a combination in unknown proportions, biological constraint, family dullness, socio -historical pressure and gross pulsional death;It is a serious mental disorder that can have a diverse origin and that is commonly characterized by alterations of thought (delusions) and perception (hallucinations), although it usually affects many other psychopathological spheres.

Classification

The main psychotic disorders are schizophrenia, schizoofective disorder, schizophreniform disorder and delusional ideas disorder, although depression and bipolar disorder mania can also present psychotic symptoms.

Secondary psychosis. Various medical, toxic, alcohol and drug diseases can produce secondary psychotic paintings, often indistinguishable from primary psychosis. The main diagnostic work is to differentiate whether a primary or secondary psychosis through a thorough physical examination and complementary tests.

Treatment

• In secondary psychosis, treatment is etiological, although also symptomatic by antipsychotics.
• In the case of schizophrenia the fundamental pillar of treatment is still symptomatic.
• The use of second generation or atypical antipsychotic drugs is preferable, especially due to the lower incidence of motor effects, although monitoring of its possible effects on metabolism is necessary.
• Most treatment guides differentiate stages of acute and maintenance treatment treatment. In the latter, some rehabilitation modalities of different therapeutic purpose and psychosocial intervention have a greater role.

Clinical manifestations of psychosis

.As in all psychiatric paintings, the ma-and part of its manifestations are symptoms, that is, subjective alterations of the patient and only occasionally can some signs, objective manifestations present and that the observer can cause in the patient.

Other manifestations and alarm symptoms

Other manifestations and behavioral changes may appear. For example, in social behavior. In mania, extreme sociability is characteristic, on the contrary in schizophrenic outbreaks are avoidance, lack of empathy and distrustful attitudes. Psychotic patients can show strange attitudes or appearance, often in response to their delusional ideas and hallucinations. Humor can be extraordinarily variable from one case to another.

From happiness to states of depressive humor and anguish. The patient can be shown from inhibited to impulsive. Another central characteristic is the scarce or no disease awareness. Associated with this, the patient can be little collaborative and reluctant to accept any therapeutic indication.

Some of the changes regarding the usual way of behaving can involve true symptoms of alarm of first outbreaks of psychosis or their decompensation. Characteristicly, more or less global insomnia, the tendency to isolation, carelessness of care, personal hygiene or food, attitudes of distrust and behavior and strange or incommous language.

In a study, the first person perspective of people with psychosis who survived child sexual abuse was investigated. The interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to explore the experiences of 7 women with a history of sexual abuse and psychosis.

The analysis generated six themes: 

1. the degradation of the self, shame, guilt and sometimes disgust;
2. Catching of the body self, experiencing restriction and body distortion;
3. a feeling of being different from others, which involves interpersonal problems;
4. Fight without end and depression, a generalized sense of defeat;
5. Psychotic sentences and abuses, which describe psychotic phenomena related to sexual damage and abuse;
6. to perception of links with the past, the links made from the past abuse to the current operation.

Participants suffered extreme and present psychological, physical and interpersonal difficulties.

Discussion:

Psychoanalytic theory can be a limitation, since it is based solely on the environmental part and the subject’s experience, without taking into account the genetic basis of the subject. This could be a limitation, since, on many occasions, the environmental base has some weight in pathologies.

On the other hand, the fact that the author on which the text was based not written and on the contrary has only conferences, it could also be as a limitation by not having enough information, and also information that is not always clear, dueto translations and other external factors.

conclusion

It can be concluded that, if there is a relationship between traumas due to child abuse and psychotic experiences, since, for psychodynamic theory, human beings accumulate experiences in their unconscious and childhood is the main source for the formation of the subject. Without taking into account the genetic part, the trauma of an abuse can be as a trigger for the formation of psychosis in adult life.

It can be said that these traumas are triggers for children to develop psychotic experiences, and abuse is traumatic experience.

References

1. CALLIGARIS, c. (1991). Introduction to a differential clinic of psychosis. Buenos Aires: New Vision Editions.
2. Battista, J. (2015). The desire in psychosis. BUENOS AIRES: LIVE LETTER.
3. Freeman, d., & Fowler, D. (July 1, 2008). Routes to psychotic symptoms: trauma, anxiety and psychesis-like experiences. Obtained from Elsevier: www.Elsevier. com/ locate/ psychres
4. ILYA BARSHNIKOVA, K. A., & to the., and. (December 1, 2017). Features of borderline personality disorder as to mediator of the relationshipbetween childhood traumatic experiences and psychosis-like experiences in patients with mood disorder. Obtained from Elsevier: http: // www.Europsy- Journal.com
5. Katja Dittrich, K. B. (2018). Child abuse potential in mothers with early lifemaltreatment, borderline personality disorder and depression. Obtained from The British Journal of Psychiatry.
6. Lyness, a. (August 2015). Kids Health. Obtained from https: // kidshealth.org/es/Parents/Child-Abuse-Esp.HTML
7. Perry, b. (2014). Child trauma. Obtained from stress, trauma and post -traumatic stress disorders in children: https: // childrauma.Org/WP-Content/Uploads/2014/10/PTSD_SPANISH_SM.PDF
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