Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:39:01.798Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Late Effects of Early Dependency Need Deprivation: The Meal Ticket Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

William E. Farn
Affiliation:
From the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine and Psychiatric Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, Texas; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Miami Medical School, Miami, Florida
James N. Sussex
Affiliation:
From the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine and Psychiatric Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, Texas; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Miami Medical School, Miami, Florida

Summary

A psychiatric condition disabling to persons in the fifth and sixth decades is described. Approximately 51 per cent of nearly 1,000 Social Security Disability applicants sampled presented a wide variety of somatic and psychological complaints, but no severe psychiatric disorder. This group is characterized by inability to continue gainful employment. Commencement of full-time employment before age 16 years (59 per cent) and level of education were the only significant differences between this group and psychotic applicants; another 33 per cent began full-time work before age 20 years. 88.5 per cent of the families of these persons remained intact until after they began work. Apparently, being thrust into the responsibilities of adulthood earlier than their peers contributed to the early disability.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

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

Billig, O. & Adams, R. W. (1957) Emotional conflicts of the middle-aged man. Geriatrics, 12, 535—61.Google ScholarPubMed
Billig, O. & Adams, R. W. (1963) Middle-age depressions. In Proceedings of Third World Congress of Psychiatry, 1961, New York, Philosophical Library, pp. 1406–9.Google Scholar
Caveny, E. L. (1961) Chronic dependency in emotional illness. Southern Medical Journal, 54, 1207—11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enelow, A. J. (1968) Industrial injuries: Prediction and prevention of psychological complications. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 10, 683—7.Google Scholar
Engel, M. (1967) Children who work. Archives of General Psychiatry, 17, 291—7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oltman, J. G. & Friedman, S. (1965) Report on parental deprivation in psychiatric disorders. I. In schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 4556.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oltman, J. G. & Friedman, S.(1966) Parental deprivation in psychiatry disorders. II. In affective illnesses. Diseases of the Nervous System, 27, 239—44.Google Scholar
Oltman, J. G. & Friedman, S. (1967) Report on parental deprivation in psychiatric conditions. III. In personality disorders and other conditions. Diseases of the Nervous System, 28, 298303.Google Scholar
Sussex, J. N. (1967) The meal ticket syndrome. Presented at Annual meeting, American Academy of General Practitioners. Birmingham, Alabama, 7 June.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.