A Community Participation Analysis of Emotional Disturbance

Abstract

The disturbed child can be viewed as a collective object of a microcommunity who becomes both a generator and receptacle of reverberating emotions and behavior. He becomes the locus of collective dynamics which flow and ebb around him. Intervention should take into consideration the reciprocal nature of the phenomenon and should not treat the child as the sole possessor of the disturbance. Certain environments or microcommunities may be unable to accommodate the unfolding nature of children. The disturbance attributed to the child may also be reflective of this insufficiency.