What is the typical age of onset for major psychiatric disorders and how might this knowledge change management?
Psychiatric disorders typically begin to manifest in adolescence to early adulthood, with roughly 75% of cases having a first onset before age 24 years.
For example, the typical age of onset of schizophrenia is between 15 and 35 years of age, and onset after 45 years of age is rare. Increased diagnostic suspicion and keeping a lower threshold for further workup to rule out other (neurologic or medical) causes is necessary before diagnosing a psychiatric disorder in a patient presenting outside of the typical age range.
