Schizophrenia at the extremes of life

Abstract

This chapter compares and contrasts the characteristics of patients presenting for the first time with a schizophrenia-like illness at the extremes of life. Unless otherwise stated, ‘childhood onset’ refers to illness onset in childhood (0-12 years) and ‘adolescent onset’ to onset roughly between ages 13 and 18 years (Werry, 1992). The term ‘early onset’ is used for both childhood- and adolescent-onset schizophrenia. Very-late-onset (or ‘late paraphrenia’) illness is taken as onset after the age of 60 years (Roth, 1955). The chapter details the epidemiology, gender differences, phenomenology, risk factors (including premorbid functioning), outcome and treatment for early- and very-late-onset..