Abstract
Very early onset schizophrenia (VEOS) is a rare and severe neurodevelopmental disorder with poor outcome where the symptoms initially appear before the age of 13, which leads to serious decline in cognitive, emotional and social functioning. Schizophrenia in children is diagnosed by using the same criteria applied to adults. However, VEOS is not diagnosed easily as it is in adults. Being both unwelcome and stigmatizing in nature on social grounds and due to the possibility of change in the psychotic symptoms during childhood that would ultimately result in a change in diagnosis, VEOS is not an early pronounced diagnosis. Since the disorder is seen during childhood where development has not yet been completed, symptoms are complicated making the diagnostic processes and treatment even harder. The interval between the onset of fi rst psychotic symptoms and the diagnosis generally take years. Patients commonly have a history of different psychiatric diagnoses and various psychotropic prescriptions before the diagnosis of schizophrenia. In this report, we discussed three cases with VEOS in regard to their clinical presentations and diagnostic challenges in the light of literature. To better detect the prodromal symptoms and early signs of VEOS, more research is required in this area.
Keywords: Schizophrenia, childhood onset, very early onset schizophrenia.
