ABSTRACT
Children diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder experience difficulties along a spectrum of severity. Impairments in socialization, communication, and the ability to appropriately express and interpret affect in relationships are common features of the disorder. After summarizing salient thinking in the field, the author describes a case emphasizing the individual psychotherapy process in which the patient was involved. Although individual psychotherapy with such patients is currently viewed with skepticism, the one-on-one relationship may be a central feature of such treatment because it can serve as a model for other relationships. The author advocates a multimodal treatment plan appropriately geared to the needs of such patients.
Subject(s)
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/therapy , Psychotherapy , Adolescent , Child , Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/diagnosis , Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/drug therapy , Child, Preschool , Hospitalization , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Interpersonal Relations , MaleABSTRACT
The case of a 21-month-old girl with an atypical eating disorder helps illustrate the impact that a serious illness and subsequent hospitalization may have on a young child's psychosexual development. The consultant emphasizes how assessing the interaction between the child's development and her environment can help treaters understand the child's self-experience during the hospitalization that led her to develop an eating disorder. Participants in the presentation discuss implications for intervention in a pediatric-liaison setting.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Diarrhea, Infantile/psychology , Feeding and Eating Disorders/psychology , Hospitalization , Sick Role , Feeding Behavior , Female , Humans , Infant , Play TherapyABSTRACT
This study examined the associations between abuse and staff perceived treatment difficulty in sixty-nine hospitalized children and adolescents. Subjects were rated on a treatment difficulty scale, and clinical charts were reviewed for evidence of physical abuse, sexual abuse, abuse between parents, and parental history of abuse. Subjects with histories of abuse were not rated as more difficult or less responsive to treatment than other patients. Physically abused youngsters were rated as more self-destructive and more accessible to treatment than non-abused children, while sexually abused youngsters were self-destructive and demanding, and their families were seen as more distant and unavailable.