title: Looking for childhood schizophrenia: case series of false positives.
abstract: Extensive experience with the diagnosis of childhood-onset schizophrenia indicates a high rate of false positives. Most mislabeled patients have chronic disabling, affective, or behavioral disorders. The authors report the cases of three children who passed stringent initial childhood-onset schizophrenia "screens" but had no chronic psychotic disorder. For two, the European literature yielded more fitting diagnoses: psychosis not otherwise specified (e.g., reactive or psychogenic psychosis, paranoid schizophrenia), single episode in full remission (e.g., anxiety psychosis), and factitious disorder (DSM-IV 300.16). These cases illustrate that transient psychotic illnesses can be misdiagnosed as childhood-onset schizophrenia. Proper identification can prevent years of inappropriate therapies.
authors.affiliation: Child Psychiatry Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892-1600, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stayer
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sporn
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gogtay
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tossell
authors.forename: Marge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenane
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gochman
authors.forename: Judith L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rapoport
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002667:Child Reactive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology