Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T07:14:37.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abuse and Neglect as a Cause of Mental Retardation

A Study of 140 Children Admitted to Subnormality Hospitals in Wiltshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ann Buchanan  and
J. E. Oliver
Ann Buchanan
Affiliation:
Burderop Hospital, Swindon, Wiltshire
J. E. Oliver
Affiliation:
Pewsey Hospital, Pewsey, Wiltshire
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The survey of 140 children under 16 in two subnormality hospitals showed that 3 per cent of the children had definitely been rendered mentally handicapped as a consequence of violent abuse, and that a possible maximum total of 11 per cent might have been thus rendered mentally handicapped. In 24 per cent of the children, neglect was considered to be a contributory factor in reducing intellectual potential.

Impairment of intellect from abuse and neglect, especially in those with ‘vulnerable’ brains due to pre-existing abnormality, may be much commoner in children than is generally realized.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 131 , Issue 5 , November 1977 , pp. 458 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1977 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldwin, J. A. (1976) Personal communication.Google Scholar
Birch, H. G. & Gussow, J. D. (1970) Disadvantaged Children. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Blackie, J., Forrest, A. & Witcher, G. (1975) Sub-cultural mental handicap. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 535–9.Google Scholar
British Paediatric Association (1976) Evidence presented to the Select Committee on Violence in the Family, 8 June 1976.Google Scholar
Bullard, D. M., Glaser, H. H., Heagarty, M. C. & Pivchik, E. C. (1968) Failure to thrive in the ‘neglected’ child. Annual Progress in Child Psychiatry and Child Development, chapter 32, pp 540–54. New York: Brunner-Mazel Google Scholar
Caffey, J. (1974) The whiplash shaken infant syndrome. Paediatrics, 54, no. 4, 396–403.Google Scholar
Chase, H. P., Canosa, C. A., Dabiere, C. S., Welch, N. N. & O'Brien, D. (1974) Postnatal undernutrition and human brain development. Journal of Mental Deficiency Research, 18, 355–66.Google Scholar
Dobbing, J. (1974) The later development of the brain and its vulnerability. Chapter 32 in Scientific Foundations of Paediatrics (eds Davis, J. A. and Dobbing, J.) London: Heinemann Google Scholar
Editorial (1976) The ultimate cost of malnutrition. British Medical Journal, ii, 1158–9.Google Scholar
Editorial (1976) Koluchova's twins. British Medical Journal, ii, 897–8.Google Scholar
Forrest, A. D. (1975) Mental handicap and syndromes of brain damage in children. British Medical Journal, ii, 71–3.Google Scholar
General Register Office: Studies on Medical and Population Subjects (1968, amended 1973) A Glossary of Mental Disorders, No. 22. HMSO.Google Scholar
Grossman, H. J. (1973) Manual on Terminology and Classification in Mental Retardation. American Association on Mental Deficiency, Special Publication No. 2. Washington.Google Scholar
Guthkelch, A. N. (1971) Infantile subdural haematoma and its relationship to whiplash injuries. British Medical Journal, ii, 430–1.Google Scholar
Hertzig, M. E., Birch, H. G., Richardson, S. H. & Tizard, J. (1972) Intellectual levels of schoolchildren severely malnourished during the first two years of life. Paediatrics, 49(6), 814–24.Google Scholar
Jones, C. (1976) The fate of abused children. Presented at the Symposium on Child Abuse, held at The Royal Society of Medicine 2–4 June 1976, London. Proceedings to be published in 1977 in a book edited by Franklin, A. W. Google Scholar
Lewin, J. (1974) Malnutrition and the human brain. World Medicine, 10(5), 19–21.Google Scholar
Lynch, M. A. (1975) Ill-health and child abuse. Lancet, ii, 317–19.Google Scholar
Lynch, M. A., Roberts, J. & Gordon, M. (1976) Early warning of child abuse in the maternity hospital. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 18, 759–66.Google Scholar
Lynch, M. A. (1976) Child abuse—the critical path. Journal of Maternal and Child Health, July, 25–9.Google Scholar
Martin, H. P. (1972) The child and his development. Chapter 7 in Helping the Battered Child and his Family (eds Kempe, C. H. and Heifer, R. E.). Philadelphia and Toronto: J. B. Lippincott Google Scholar
Martin, H. P. et al (1974) The development of abused children. In Advances in Pediatrics, 21, 25–73. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers Google Scholar
Mackeith, R. (1975) Speculation on some possible long-term effects of child abuse. Chapter 8 in Concerning Child Abuse (ed Franklin, A. W.). Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Nixon, J. & Pearn, J. (1977) Non-accidental immersion in bath-water: another aspect of child abuse. British Medical Journal, i, 271–2.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. E., Cox, J., Taylor, A. & Baldwin, J. A. (1974) Severely Ill-Treated Young Children in North-East Wiltshire. Oxford University Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Oxford Record Linkage Study, Research Report No. 4.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. E. (1975) Microcephaly following baby battering and shaking. British Medical Journal, iii, 262–4.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. E. (1975) Child abuse. Chapter in Social Crises in Service Communities . Proceedings of Triservice Multi-disciplinary Conference, pp 73–136 (taken from Symposium held at Amport House, Hants, 30 September 1975).Google Scholar
Pilling, D. (1973) The Handicapped Child: Research Review, Vol III. From Studies in Child Development, Longman Press (in association with the National Children's Bureau).Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1976) Evidence presented to the Select Committee on Violence in the Family, 8 June 1976.Google Scholar
Sarsfield, J. K. (1974) The neurological sequelae of non-accidental injury. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 16, 826–7.Google Scholar
Smith, S. M. & Hanson, R. (1974) 134 Battered children: a medical and psychological study. British Medical Journal, iii, 660–70.Google Scholar
Spencer, D. A. (1974) The use of the WHO International Classification of Disease (Mental Retardation) in a hospital for the mentally handicapped. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 333–5.Google Scholar
Spencer, D. A. (1975) Use of 1974 AAMD classification in hospitals for the mentally handicapped. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 298.Google Scholar
Spencer, D. A. (1976) New long-stay patients in a hospital for mental handicap. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 467–70.Google Scholar
Stott, D. H. (1962) Abnormal mothering as a cause of mental subnormality. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 3, 79–91 and 133–48.Google Scholar
Watts, G. (1976) Malnutrition in context. World Medicine, 11(10), 57–60.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.