Aspects of family mental health in Europe : contributors, D. Buckle ... [et al.].

Date:
1965
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Aspects of family mental health in Europe : contributors, D. Buckle ... [et al.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    116 ASPECTS OF FAMILY MENTAL HEALTH IN EUROPE probation officers, house-parents ^ social service students, and tutors engaged in training the staff of children's homes. Research projects and study groups Diagnosis. The diagnosis research groups are engaged in a long- term investigation of the problems of the psychoanalytic diagnosis of children. Whereas in work with adults the problem of diagnosis is centred on the elucidation of a relatively fixed clinical picture which is the outcome of a lifelong development, the corresponding task with children is rather different. Cliildren may show disturbances, often quite severe, that may have vastly different meanings at different stages of development. At certain transition points of development the disturbance may be seen as representing a temporary reaction of the cliild to the internal and external stresses imposed on him by his development. At other times the child's symptoms may indicate a neurotic solution to his conflicts with possible grave implications for his future progress. In order to investigate the diagnostic problems met with in our work, we have made use of a formal method of assessment known as the developmental profile in which the diagnostic thinking of the analytic psychiatrist is broken up into its component parts. The profile aims at making a detailed assessment of the child's state in psychological terms. As it stands at present, it contains the follow¬ ing nine sections (each of which is further sub-divided in great detail) : (1) Reason for referral (arrested development, behaviour prob¬ lems, anxieties, inhibitions, symptoms, etc.) (2) Description of child (personal appearance, moods, manner, etc.) (3) Family background and personal history (4) Possibly significant environmental influences (5) Assessment of development (drive development in relation to libido and aggression, ego and superego development, and develop¬ ment of the total personahty) (6) Genetic assessments (regression and fixation points) (7) Dynamic and structural assessments (conflicts) (8) Assessment of some general characteristics (9) Diagnosis ^ Staff in cMldren's homes acting in loco parentis.