Case Report
Childhood disintegrative disorder misdiagnosed as childhood-onset schizophrenia
Submitted: 01 November 2013 | Published: 30 August 2014
About the author(s)
Neena Sanjiv Sawant, Department of Psychiatry, Seth GSMC and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, IndiaShubhangi Parkar, Department of Psychiatry, Seth GSMC and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, India
Prathamesh Kulkarni, Department of Psychiatry, Seth GSMC and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, India
Full Text:
PDF (573KB)Abstract
Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) is a rare pervasive developmental disorder, which is often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia, probably due to the resultant severe social impairment and withdrawn behaviour with stereotypys that could be mistaken for psychosis. We report a case of CDD that was misdiagnosed by a psychiatrist as childhood-onset schizophrenia and treated with high doses of antipsychotics. The patient did not show any improvement. This highlights ethical issues that arise from treatment modalities, with polypharmacy being the biggest culprit, and also points to the need to continue medical education at the level of primary health services and among practising rural doctors where tertiary centres with child guidance facilities and a multidisciplinary team are not available.
Keywords
Metrics
Total abstract views: 4544Total article views: 1695
Crossref Citations
1. The diagnostic conundrum of late-onset developmental regression in child psychiatry: case series
Shalu Elizabeth Abraham, Sakhardande Kasturi Atmaram, Poornima Khadanga, Nirmalya Mukherjee, Rajendra Kiragasur Madegowda, Harshini Manohar
BJPsych Open vol: 11 issue: 1 year: 2025
doi: 10.1192/bjo.2024.840