See Inside
Signs of incipient psychosis show up early in life. Reading them is key to rescuing kids from the abyss of a serious mental illness
?| April 11, 2012
From A Lethal Inheritance: A Mother Uncovers the Science behind Three Generations of Mental Illness, by Victoria Costello
Image: Copyright ? 2012 by Victoria Costello
In Brief
- Signs of a mind in danger?including social deficits, impaired body sensations and reduced tolerance to stress?may show up anywhere from two months to 35 years before schizophrenia strikes.
- The prevalence of schizophrenia is 1.1 percent, but if a parent has the disorder, the child has a 10 to 12 percent increased risk and a 17.1 percent chance of developing a related personality disorder.
- Physical abuse, bullying by peers and ingesting cannabis can push a genetically vulnerable child toward psychosis.
From the moment he was handed to me in the delivery room, Alex, my firstborn, seemed not happy to be here. His eyes were bottomless, his expression grave. He spent his first three months writhing and screaming inconsolably, the word ?colic? wholly insufficient to describe our collective suffering. It wasn?t until his brother, Sammy, arrived that I realized just how different Alex was compared with other babies. Sammy cried only when he was hungry or wet. He made easy eye contact and loved to be stroked, hugged and kissed?all the things Alex recoiled from as an infant.
Articles You Might Also Like
bcs rankings miguel cotto vs antonio margarito rockefeller center art basel 2011 art basel 2011 straight no chaser straight no chaser
No comments:
Post a Comment