Diversity and commonality of clinical and pathopsychological manifestations of autism and schizophrenia in childhood

Background. Despite many years of studying endogenous mental pathology in childhood and adolescence, specialists working in the field of mental health of the younger generation still have not fully clarified a number of issues related to both the differential diagnosis of common nosologies and the development and implementation of further routes of escort and habilitation of patients. Early polyprofessional diagnosis of patients, treatment and psychological and psychotherapeutic correction significantly improve the prognosis of the disease and, as a result, the quality of life of patients and their relatives. Because of this, it is of particular importance to clarify the clinical and psychopathological characteristics and pathopsychological characteristics of patients in order to form a legitimate idea of the degree of impairment of each of the identified mental spheres and the possibilities of cognitive and social functioning of this category of patients. Based on the results of scientific research, it is planned to create pathopsychological profiles of patients with different forms of autism and schizophrenia in childhood for more accurate diagnosis of clinically similar conditions and predicting individual rehabilitation opportunities for each patient. Objective: to develop clinical-psychopathological, pathopsychological approaches to the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia in childhood. Material and Methods. The study sample included 115 patients aged 3 to 15 years (mean age 6.5 years) with ICD-10 diagnoses: ‘children's autism’ (F84.02), ‘schizophrenia, childhood type’ (F20.8xx3) [5]. Patients were examined by clinical-psychopathological, clinical-dynamic, clinical-catamnestic, pathopsychological methods. The results obtained were compared with a normative database that included data from a psychological examination of healthy children and adolescents. Results. Based on the clinical-psychopathological and pathopsychological positions, the profiles of four types of cognitive dysontogenesis were identified and described: distorted, deficient, deficient-progredient with a gradual increase in defect, regressive-defective. Along with solving the problem of polyprofessional differential diagnosis, this approach activated the understanding and creation of the most effective route for habilitation of patients.