Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:12:34.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Socio-Psychiatric Aspects of the Young Severely Mentally Retarded and the Family

19th Blake Marsh Lecture delivered before the Royal College of Psychiatrists, February 1985

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Annalise Dupont*
Affiliation:
Aarhus University, Head of Institute of Psychiatric Demography, Psychiatric Hospital, DK-8240 Risskov, Denmark

Extract

Interest in the different diagnostic groups of the mentally retarded started in the 19th century, but this made little contribution toward better treatment and care. Medical interest was mainly focused on the prevention of mental retardation. It was not until the 1950's and 60's that interest in research in the care and treatment of these persons intensified. The next step, study of the interaction between handicapped persons and the environment is the key to a better understanding of how to plan for work with the handicapped. New members of the therapeutic team (e. g., psychologists, and sociologists) will take over (Edgerton, 1984) if medical groups, especially psychiatrists, do not become more aware of the importance of the interaction between the handicapped and the environment.

Type
Lecture
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Bayley, M. (1973) Mental Handicap and Community Care. A Study of Mentally Handicapped People in Sheffield. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Beckmann, P. J. (1983) Influence of selected child characteristics on stress in families of handicapped infants. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 150156.Google Scholar
Bernsen, A. H. (1976) Severe mental retardation among children in the county of Aarhus, Denmark. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 54, 4366.Google Scholar
Bernsen, A. H. (1981) Handicaps, skills and behaviour of mentally retarded children: an epidemiological research method. In Assessing the Handicaps and Needs of Mentally Retarded Children (ed. Cooper, B.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Blacher, J. & Meyers, C. E. (1983) A review of attachment formation and disorder of handicapped children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 87, 359371.Google ScholarPubMed
Cambell, R. J. (1981) Psychiatric Dictionary, 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crnic, K. A., Friedrich, W. N. & Greenberg, M. T. (1983) Adaptation of families with mentally retarded children: A model of stress, coping, and family ecology. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 125138.Google Scholar
Dupont, A. (1980) A study concerning the time-related and other burdens when severely handicapped children are reared at home. In Epidemiological Research as Basis for the Organization of Extramural Psychiatry. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Suppl. 285, Vol. 62, pp. 249257.Google Scholar
Edgerton, R. B. (1984) Anthropology and mental retardation: Research approaches and opportunities. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 8, 25–8.Google Scholar
Freeman, H. (ed.) (1984) Mental Health and the Environment. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Friedrich, W. N. (1979) Predictors of the coping behaviour of mothers of handicapped children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 11401141.Google Scholar
Gath, A. (1972) The mental health of siblings of congenitally abnormal children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 13, 211218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gath, A. (1973) The school-age siblings of mongol children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 161167.Google Scholar
Graliker, B. V., Fishler, K. & Koch, R. (1962) Teenage Reaction to a Mentally Retarded Sibling. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 66, 838843.Google ScholarPubMed
Gupta, S. G. & Sethi, B. B. (1970) Prevalence of mental retardation in Uttar Pradesh. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 12, 264.Google Scholar
Ingstad, B. & Sommerschild, H. (1983) Familien med det funksjonshaemmede barnet. Forløp–reaksjoner–mestring. Gruppe for Helsetjenesteforskning, rapport nr. 9 (English summary).Google Scholar
Judd, C. M. & Kenny, D. A. (1981) Estimating the Effects of Social Interventions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kylén, G. (1974) Psykiskt utvecklingshämmades förstend. Rapport 162, stiftelsen ALA Stockholm. (Short English summary).Google Scholar
Mia, A., Islam, M. H. & Ali, M. A. (1979) Situation of physically handicapped children in Bangladesh. A field survey. Dhaka, Bangladesh: UNICEF.Google Scholar
Mink, I. T., Nihira, K. & Meyers, C. E. (1983) Taxonomy of family life styles: I Homes with TMR children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 87, 484497.Google Scholar
Mink, I. T., Meyers, C. E. & Nihira, K. (1984) Taxonomy of family life styles: II. Homes with slow-learning children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 139149.Google Scholar
Nihira, K., Mink, I. T. & Meyers, C. E. (1981) Relationship between home environment and school adjustment of TMR children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 86, 815.Google Scholar
Nihira, K., Meyers, C. E. & Mink, I. T. (1983) Reciprocal relationship between home environment and development of TMR adolescents. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 139149.Google Scholar
Olson, D. H. & McCubbin, H. I. (1983) Families—What Makes Them Work? London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Oppenheim, A. N. (1966) Questionnaire Design and Attitude Measurement. London: Heinemann Educational.Google Scholar
Primrose, D. A. (1984) Changing Sociological and Clinical Patterns in Mental Handicap. The 1983 Blake Marsh Lecture. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 18.Google Scholar
Pruzan, V. & Spohr, J. (1981) Families with mentally handicapped children—Relief and needs. English summary pp. 142161. The Danish National Institute of Social Research, publ. 109. Copenhagen: Teknisk Forlag.Google Scholar
Sell, H. L. (1984) Caring for the mentally retarded in developing countries. International Journal of Mental Health, 12, 5876.Google Scholar
Vietze, P. M. & Anderson, B. V. (1981) Styles of parent–child interaction. In Psychosocial Influences in Retarded Performance. Vol. I. Issues and Theories in Development (eds. Begab, M. J., Haywood, H. C. & Garber, H. L.). Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Wikler, L, Wasow, M. & Hatfield, E. (1981) Chronic sorrow revisited: Parent vs. professional depiction of the adjustment of parents of mentally retarded children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 6370.Google Scholar
Wilkin, D. (1979) Caring for the Mentally Handicapped Child. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Wing, L. & Gould, J. (1978) Systematic recording of behaviours and skills of retarded and psychotic children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia. 8, 7997.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1980) International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps. A Manual of Classification Relating to the Consequences of Disease. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.