Screening and treatment of adolescents with schizofrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disease characterized by changes in thinking, perception and behaviour that conflict with reality as experienced by other people. A period of social isolation, neglect of hygiene or blunted emotions sometimes precedes these delusions or hallucinations. Most patients suffer the first symptoms during adolescence. Schizophrenia or a related disorder occurs in approximately 0.5% of the population; combined with the disease's early onset and often chronic course, this leads to considerable economic and human costs.