Systematized delusions in early life schizophrenia

Abstract

A case study is presented descriptive of a boy who at 11 1/2 years of age became acutely ill with a schizophrenic psychosis characterized by a tightly systematized paranoid network of delusions and hallucinations. Such delusional system, of the kind observed in schizophrenic adults, is said to be extremely rare at so early an age. Homologous heredity and peculiar home atmosphere were in the background. The contents of the delusional pattern remained unaltered for several years and did not lead to total disintegration of the personality. It is suggested that pathoplastic influences of the boy's environment could not alone account for the illness and that tightly enclosed delusional systems can develop in young schizophrenic patients as early as prepuberty.