6-Year-Old Schitzo: Truth is Scarier than Fiction

[3113]

It's been a rough week. A few days ago, at UCLA's Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, 6-year-old Jani toppled a food cart and was confined to her room. She slammed her head against the floor, opening a bloody cut that sent her into hysterics. Later, she kicked the hospital therapy dog.

Jani normally likes animals. But most of her animal friends -- cats, rats, dogs and birds -- are phantoms that only she can see. January Schofield has schizophrenia. Potent psychiatric drugs -- in doses that would stagger most adults -- seem to skip off her. She is among the rarest of the rare: a child seemingly born mentally ill.

She suffers from delusions, hallucinations and paroxysms of rage so severe that not even her parents feel safe. She's threatened to climb into an oven. She's kicked and tried to bite her little brother. "I'm Jani, and I have a cat named Emily 54," she says, by way of introduction. "And I'm Saturn-the-Rat's baby sitter."

Rest of this story here.
It's heart-breaking and troubling on a lot of levels, not the least being that the parents can't get any assistance, but well worth reading.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There's not much anyone can do to help, this is such an incredibly rare happenstance.

 

[starscape]

What a story.

I don't know how her parents do it. Truthfully, after I read it I thought to myself that one of these days she is going to end up hurting herself or others, most likely someone in her family. It's really terrible there isn't some sort of a residential treatment center for someone her age; for her family to have to live in two separate apartments is just heart-breaking. Like the dad said, before he and his wife were in it together, now they're not as close, but if they're going to get through something like this they need each other more than ever.

I found it interesting her delusions were all named after numbers. It makes me wonder what a pattern like that says about the way her brain works. I know little about schizophrenia, so perhaps this is sort of phenomena is not unusual for this illness. It was also pretty incredible that they have her on all of these powerful drugs to little effect. Some of that stuff would put down a huge guy, easily.

We sure have a lot to learn about the human brain. I wonder how many illnesses and conditions might be treatable if we could unlock its mysteries?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There was a time 5000 years ago when everyone was schizophrenic, and then the brain changed.

Schizophrenics blend imagination with cognition. Engineers hallucinate bridges, schizophrenics hallucinate monsters. But engineers can switch the imagination to 'off,' schizophrenics cant.

With really crazy kids, a lot of the time theyre acting out the wild & crazy shit mom & pop do behind closed doors, that no one knows about. It's my professional experience that this is usually the source of the problem.

 

[Handley_Page]

That's what I call dog rough.

 

[KarennaC]

Her parents have my admiration and sympathy. It sounds like they're giving up nearly everything they have to care for their daughter. I hope someone somewhere is able to give them and Jani the help they need to manage her illness.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Theyre certain to get some money for their trouble.

 

[3113]

I found it interesting her delusions were all named after numbers. It makes me wonder what a pattern like that says about the way her brain works. I know little about schizophrenia, so perhaps this is sort of phenomena is not unusual for this illness.

I know a little something about schizophrenia, and her focus on numbers and such is idiosyncratic to her. I'd say it says more about the development of her child's brain than it does about the schizophrenia. And let's keep in mind that this is her child brain. Remember, she's a very bright child. Perhaps, if she'd not had the schizophrenia, she would have been a natural at mathematics and such.

I certainly hope that this news article gets the attention of some interested researchers/hospitals who maybe want to take Jani on. From the sound of it, there is probably little that can be done, but she could offer insights into the brain's development and such--and this would give her parents and her some relief, knowing that she was in a stable and safe environment.

Personally, I suspect that the doctors would do better if they focused more on her moods than on trying to get rid of the hallucinations. If she's been mentally ill from birth, never knowing what is or is not real, then she might not have any solid benchmark to return to. Delusions and reality are all one in the same all through her brain, maybe? But if her rages and mood could be calmed, then she and her family might be able to have a sort of life together.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Theyre after sympathy money. Cant be anything else.

 

[starscape]

I'd say it says more about the development of her child's brain than it does about the schizophrenia. And let's keep in mind that this is her child brain. Remember, she's a very bright child. Perhaps, if she'd not had the schizophrenia, she would have been a natural at mathematics and such.

After reading how bright she was, I kind of wondered if this tendency of hers was pointing toward a more "mathematically-inclined" mind. Since she's so young and has been this way all her life, perhaps this is her schizophrenic brain's "natural" way of making sense of the world as seen through that lens.

Personally, I suspect that the doctors would do better if they focused more on her moods than on trying to get rid of the hallucinations. If she's been mentally ill from birth, never knowing what is or is not real, then she might not have any solid benchmark to return to. Delusions and reality are all one in the same all through her brain, maybe? But if her rages and mood could be calmed, then she and her family might be able to have a sort of life together.

I think you may be onto something here. It was her violent tendencies which gave me pause more than her hallucinations. Granted, some of her hallucinations were encouraging her to act violently, but I got the impression that most were akin to imaginary friends that she actually believes are real. It's possible the violent hallucinations could be triggered from agitation or other stressors. Of course it's not ideal for her to have the delusions at all, but I think it's the unpredictable volatility of her mood which is the biggest barrier to, as you say, she and her family having some kind of life together.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I've never heard of anything like this in all my years of dealing with children. We have had a couple of cases where the diagnosis was "childhood-onset schizophrenia" and they were tragic. This is worse.

 

[Xelebes]

What a story.

I don't know how her parents do it. Truthfully, after I read it I thought to myself that one of these days she is going to end up hurting herself or others, most likely someone in her family. It's really terrible there isn't some sort of a residential treatment center for someone her age; for her family to have to live in two separate apartments is just heart-breaking. Like the dad said, before he and his wife were in it together, now they're not as close, but if they're going to get through something like this they need each other more than ever.

I found it interesting her delusions were all named after numbers. It makes me wonder what a pattern like that says about the way her brain works. I know little about schizophrenia, so perhaps this is sort of phenomena is not unusual for this illness. It was also pretty incredible that they have her on all of these powerful drugs to little effect. Some of that stuff would put down a huge guy, easily.

We sure have a lot to learn about the human brain. I wonder how many illnesses and conditions might be treatable if we could unlock its mysteries?

At such a young age, she would be just learning numbers. Numbers can have extra properties - such as having a colour, sound or even smell to them. Because her hallucinations are so vivid, it is quite reasonable for her to have a synaesthesia occuring with numbers, and affixing numbers to names to add special properties. Emily 54 could really mean Emily who Wears Magenta or Emily who Smells like Honey.

 

[Xelebes]

Reading the article in full i kinda saddening for me. I'm familiar with all the medications mentioned because my condition (Tourette's) is treated with the same medications as schizophrenia - maybe sans the Lithium though my older brother has been on Lithium before. It's saddening as I've only been diagnosed this year but my symptoms, while not as severe as they are now, have been with me since I was at least in the fourth grade. It strikes a cord whenever I read words like occupational therapist and the sort. But eh, I'll get over it.