Browsing by Author "Hyyppä, Jemina"

Objectives: Psychotic symptoms are often seen as a sign of severe psychopathology. However, the high prevalence of symptoms in relation to the low prevalence of psychosis raises the question of the clinical significance of childhood psychotic symptoms. In this thesis, I examine the clinical significance of psychotic symptoms in childhood. I review results on the prevalence and persistence of psychotic symptoms in childhood and associations between childhood psychotic symptoms and later psychotic and non-psychotic psychopathology. Methods: The thesis was made as a literature review. Literature was collected from the PubMed and Google Scholar databases using the following keywords and their various combinations: psychotic, psychosis, psychotic symptom, psychotic-like, schizophrenia, hallucination, delusion, and childhood, children, child, pediatric or young. In addition, some of the literature was found in the reference lists of other research reports. The choice of literature was made according to the relevance of the topic. Results and conclusions: Childhood psychotic symptoms are associated with later psychotic disorders, but the majority of children having psychotic symptoms do not suffer from later psychotic disorder. Symptoms have also been shown to be associated with non-psychotic disorders, poorer global functioning and suicidal behavior. Studies show that the prevalence of psychotic symptoms is quite high in childhood, but the majority of symptoms disappear over time. The high prevalence and transience rates of psychotic symptoms in childhood suggest that symptoms also occur in non-clinical populations. It’s possible that the psychotic symptoms reported by a child reflects immature thinking patterns or imagination instead of being psychotic. The methods used in the studies and thus the results are variable, which makes it difficult to draw clear conclusions.