Family Psychiatry and the Retarded Child

Abstract

An attempt has been made to clarify the psychiatric problems of families who come to an outpatient clinic for retarded children. The families may be reacting to the presence of a retarded child; marital conflicts may already exist; neurotic and psychotic problems may be present within the individual parent; the families may regard themselves as outcasts from the community. Individual counselling, marital counselling, individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and case work are the techniques which have been used with these families. It is felt that with the retarded child as with the other mentally ill, the individual cannot be regarded in isolation but as part of a family with dynamic relationship existing between all members. The psychiatrist is urged to recognize his counter-transference feelings in dealing with “incurable” children, and those parents who superficially appear to distrust psychiatric intervention.