(July 1) -- At just 6 years old, January Schofield has schizophrenia. She suffers from delusions and hallucinations, and has such violent fits that even her parents feel threatened, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Most schizophrenics become ill in their late teens or 20s, and the rate of onset for children under 13 is about one in 30,000 to 50,000.
Skip over this content
Doctors think Jani, who has dozens of phantom animal friends, was born mentally ill.
"Child-onset schizophrenia is 20 to 30 times more severe than adult-onset schizophrenia," Dr. Nitin Gogtay, a neurologist at the National Institute of Mental Health, told the Times.
"Ninety-five percent of the time they are awake these kids are actively hallucinating," Gogtay said. "I don't think I've seen anything more devastating in all of medicine."
Jani has been on heavy doses of anti-psychotic medications, but often doesn't respond or suffers from severe side effects.
Asked during a recent stay in the UCLA psychiatric ward if her new medication was working, Jani said, "No. I have more friends," the Times reported.
She's tried to jump out of windows, tried to push the car out of gear while her father was driving, and screams, hits, kicks and bites.
Jani can be so violent that her parents, Michael and Susan Schofield, have had to rent two separate apartments in the same complex in California to protect her 18-month-old brother, Bohdi, from Jani -- and to protect Jani from herself. They take turns, with one staying a night with Jani and the other with Bohdi, then switching. The on-duty parent is referred to as her "staff."
Although the arrangement has been hard on the family, they saw it as their only choice.
"If Jani was 16, there would be resources," her father said. "But very few hospitals, private or public, will take a 6-year-old."
"I'm not hanging on to the hope that she'll get better," he told the paper. "My biggest fear is that she won't live to 18."
"I have more hope," said her mother.
