The Evolution of Views on Childhood Schizophrenia

Background: the development of views on childhood schizophrenia has more than a century of history, but is still far from complete, due to significant differences in diagnostic approaches. Objective: to analyze the evolution of views on schizophrenia in children from the prenosological stage to the present, with an emphasis on the main directions and contradictions in the study of this disease. Materials and Methods: a narrative review made up the sources available in the literature, using the combinations of keywords “childhood schizophrenia”, “early onset schizophrenia”, “schizophrenia”, “autism” in the databases Medline/PubMed, Scopus and RSCI. Conclusion: after the period of the unified essence of schizophrenia for childhood and adulthood recognition by most psychiatrists, within the framework of the concept of early dementia with specific clinical manifestations, there is a divergence of views at different age periods. Two directions in the study of childhood schizophrenia are being formed, differing in approaches to the diagnosis and interpretation of the disease in children. Currently, there is a debate about the unity of schizophrenia with a variety of its clinical manifestations in different age periods. The accumulation of research results showing the similarity of clinical manifestations, genetic changes, biological parameters and family burden in schizophrenia, schizotypal and some forms of autistic disorders create prerequisites for considering these diseases within the framework of an etiological continuum.