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Essay On Childhood Onset Schizophrenia

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The above study (Zalesky et al., 2015) investigated whether adolescents with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) and their unaffected siblings displayed abnormal development of corticocortical connections compared with healthy controls. The authors hypothesised that patients with COS and, to a lesser extent, their unaffected siblings would display delays in cortical connectivity development. They further hypothesised that these delays would be greater in COS compared with the adult-onset disorder. Corticocortical connectivity between cortical region pairs was mapped prospectively, on average, every two years from 12 to 24 years of age using brain magnetic resonance imaging. Significant left-hemisphere occipitotemporal development …show more content…

Additionally, much of the research into abnormal brain connections in schizophrenia is cross-sectional. As such, the aforementioned study is of significance due to its longitudinal design which allows for neural developmental trajectories in COS to be assessed. The findings contribute to the evidence in support of the neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia, a model which is debated (Gross & Huber, 2008; Rapoport, Addington, Frangou, & Psych, 2005; Fatemi & Folsom, 2009; Horváth, & Mirnics, 2014). However, it may be the case that COS is a neurodevelopmental sub-type of schizophrenia that is distinct to the typical adult-onset schizophrenia (AOS), which has an average onset age in late adolescence or early twenties (Häfner et al., 1994). Supporting this assertion are the differences seen between COS and AOS. For example, a higher frequency of rare alleles are found in COS compared with AOS (Asarnow & Forsyth, 2013), progressive ventricular enlargement is more consistently found in COS compared with AOS (Rapoport et al., 1997), as well as a lack of paralleled gender differences between COS and AOS. Thus, it cannot be assumed that the findings by Zalesky et al. (2015) will generalise to AOS, as the authors (at times) seem to suggest. Perhaps a similar prospective study could be conducted on individuals who develop schizophrenia during the

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