Browsing by Subject "lapsuus"

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting containment measures have been found to have a negative impact on the mental health of children and young people. In addition to adolescence, the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder also increases the risk of mental symptoms during a pandemic. However, few studies have focused on combining these factors, i.e., to elucidate the mental well-being of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders during lockdown. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a term for a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders that occur in early childhood and are persistent in nature. Characteristic features of different diagnoses in this class of disorders are abnormalities in social communication and the presence of repetitive patterns of behavior and / or restricted interests. This study investigates how closure measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the psychiatric symptoms of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. There is not much previous knowledge on this research question, although the topic is topical and research findings can be used to improve understanding of the characteristics associated with the disorder. Literature searches were conducted via the PubMed and Google Scholar databases by using search words “psychological,” “impact,” “autism spectrum disorder,” “children,” “adolescents,” “behavior,” “covid19,” “lockdown,” “behavior problems,” and “psychiatric disorders”. The review was intended to focus only on the closure period, so they required a reference to closure measures. Most studies showed an increase in psychiatric symptoms during lockdowns. Psychiatric symptoms manifested as an increase in internalizing and / or externalizing symptoms. More specifically, some studies showed that the symptoms associated with the disorder had worsened. On the other hand, some of the results of the study suggested a partial improvement in symptoms. This suggests that certain forms of mental symptoms may have been alleviated, while some of the symptoms have worsened. The existence of different protective factors and risk factors may explain the varied results. The results provide new insights into the symptoms of autism spectrum in children and adolescents during a pandemic. Further research is needed to clarify the research findings. Knowledge of the subject is also important to provide appropriate interventions and support, both in this pandemic situation and possibly for the future.

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.