Characteristics of the psychoses of late onset in children and adolescents (a comparative study of hallucinating children).

In a retrospective design, 20 children and adolescents with psychoses of late onset and hallucinations were compared with 20 children with conduct or emotional disorders who also had hallucinations. Marked differences emerged between the two groups. Psychotic subjects showed significantly more delusions, abnormalities in language production, inappropriate affect, bizarre behaviour, hypoactivity, and social withdrawal. Some subjects had symptoms which indicated a specially profound breakdown in personality functioning, but schneiderian and other schizophrenic symptoms were relatively rare. This questions their diagnostic value in the psychoses of late onset of children and adolescents.