概述
This guideline is concerned with the recognition and management of psychosis and schizophrenia in children and young people up to the age of 18. The term 'psychosis' is used in this guideline to refer to the group of psychotic disorders that includes schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder and delusional disorder. This guideline also addresses those children and young people considered clinically to be at high risk or prodromal for psychosis and schizophrenia. The recognition, treatment and management of affective psychoses (such as bipolar disorder or unipolar psychotic depression) are covered by other NICE guidelines. Psychosis and the specific diagnosis of schizophrenia in children and young people represent a major psychiatric disorder, or cluster of disorders that alters a person's perception, thoughts, mood and behaviour. The symptoms of psychosis are usually divided into 'positive symptoms', including hallucinations (perception in the absence of any stimulus) and delusions (f ixed or falsely held beliefs), and 'negative symptoms' (such as emotional apathy, lack of drive, poverty of speech, social withdrawal and self-neglect). Children and young people who develop psychosis will have their own unique combination of symptoms and experiences, the precise pattern of which will be influenced by their circumstances and stage of development.