Prevalence of psychiatric illness in primary caretakers of childhood-onset schizophrenia subjects
Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) refers to schizophrenia with onset of psychotic symptoms prior to a child’s 13th birthday. Optimal treatment likely includes family-based services supplementing antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. However, family-based services can require adjustment based on parental...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2012-07-01
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| Series: | Mental Illness |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/mi/article/view/3613 |
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| Summary: | Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) refers to schizophrenia with onset of psychotic symptoms prior to a child’s 13th birthday. Optimal treatment likely includes family-based services supplementing antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. However, family-based services can require adjustment based on parental psychopathology; there has been little literature exploring the frequency or type of psychopathology seen in parents of COS cases. This report includes the results of a structured psychiatric evaluation on 80 parents of a COS case with comparison to a sample of 304 parents. Having a child with psychosis and being of minority racial/ethnicity status increased risk for psychiatric illness. Psychotic disorders (15% <em>vs</em>. 5%), mood disorders (54% <em>vs</em>. 27%), anxiety disorders (30% <em>vs</em>. 18%), and substance use disorders (49% <em>vs</em>. 31%) were all increased in the parents with a psychotic child. Psychiatric illness is common in parents of a child with COS and will need to be consid- ered as family-based services for COS are developed. |
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| ISSN: | 2036-7457 2036-7465 |