The pediatric team and the consulting child psychiatrist and the hospitalized depressed infant.

ABSTRACT

The link between pediatricians and child mental health professionals is a complex, but fascinating issue. Based on our clinical experience, this paper will discuss the issue of depression in very young children hospitalized for serious illness in a general pediatric ward, and its theoretical implications. We begin with a clinical vignette, followed by a review of several clinical phenomena including anticipated bereavement (either by the parents or the medical team, or both), some high-tech medical conditions specific to neonatology and joint parents-infant hospitalization as well as relating the above to psychoanalytical concepts. The significance and importance of adopting a dual perspective, from both the pediatric and the psychopathological viewpoint, while treating the very sick hospitalized young child and his/her parents, is underlined.