Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:19:16.735Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Observation of Children in a Psychiatric In-Patient Unit

Design of Behavioural Rating Scale for Nursing Staff

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michael Pritchard*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5

Extract

As a specialty within a specialty, child psychiatry has now a well-established place in psychological medicine. Yet differences commonly exist between the practice of child and adult psychiatry which seem greater than can be attributed solely to differences inherent in their respective subject matter. A particular instance is the general emphasis in child psychiatry on individual diagnosis, with little attempt at categorization as compared with adult psychiatry. However, Cameron (1955) has drawn attention to the limitation of the growth of knowledge imposed by a lack of clear description and some classification of the manifestations of disturbance in the child. He considers it essential to focus attention on the manifest clinical picture. Again, Kanner (1957) in his diagnostic formulations, attempts in a few words to describe the main features of the clinical picture as well as the factors considered to be of aetiological importance in the individual case. There remains however, the difficulty of attempting to classify the presenting symptomatology, though some success in identifying patterns of maladjustment has been obtained by statistical methods (Hewitt and Jenkins, 1946; Lorr and Jenkins, 1953; Collins, Maxwell and Cameron, 1962).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1963

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

1. Cameron, K., Brit. J. Med. Psychol., 1955, 28, 67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Collins, L. F., Maxwell, A. E., and Cameron, K., J. Ment. Sci., 1962, 108, 274.Google Scholar
3. Fox, B., “A Critique of Methods for Evaluating Psychological Changes in Patients undergoing Psychiatric Treatment”, 1960. Thesis submitted for degree of M.A. in the University of London.Google Scholar
4. Hewitt, L. E., and Jenkins, R. L., Fundamental Patterns of Maladjustment. The Dynamics of their Origin, 1946. State of Illinois.Google Scholar
5. Kanner, L., Child Psychiatry, 1957. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
6. Lorr, M., and Jenkins, R. L., J. Clin. Psychol., 1953, 9, 16.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Lorr, M., and Jenkins, R. L., “Rating Scales, Behaviour Inventories and Drugs”, Chapter 43 in Drugs and Behaviour (Ed.: Uhr, L. and Miller, J.), 1960. New York.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.