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Parent education vs. child psychotherapy
Author(s) -
Donofrio Anthony F.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6807(197604)13:2<176::aid-pits2310130212>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - neurosis , psychology , psychogenic disease , child psychotherapy , mental health , illusion , psychotherapist , psychiatry , clinical psychology , neuroscience
The author has charged in a previous article that child psychotherapy is essentially an expensive illusion with regard to the great majority of children referred to private therapists and to clinics. Educating the significant adults, manipulating the child's environment (especially school), and using medication where indicated, were held to be ecologically the best approach. Using this approach, the author did a two‐year follow‐up study of effects on children referred to a community mental health clinic; 86% showed sustained improvement. The majority of the remainder who showed no improvement manifested severe pathology in the child or a neurosis in the mother. An average of 2.1 hourly sessions (largely joint) sufficed for the parents and 1.8 (largely further exploratory) sessions for the child. Proper diagnosis is crucial for this approach. A psychogenic bias in psychological and psychiatric evaluation of children can doom parent and child to a confusing and sometimes interminable ordeal.