Statistical and psychodynamic analysis of a population of French Canadians who consulted a child psychiatrist: preliminary study

Abstract

In this retrospective study covering the total number of patients assessed in the Psychiatric Out-Patient Clinic of St. Justine's Hospital during a period of three months, the authors have accumulated a wide range of data and presented their significant findings concerning both the specifications of the group under study and the manner in which the professional staff had been dealing with the cases. A positive association was found between pathology in the milieu and pathology in the children. A lack of information about fathers was noted. Differences between girls and boys in terms of incidence and types of pathology appeared significant. The authors have been impressed with the high proportion of their cases which had been previously placed in foster homes. It was noted that the type of patients who had been in foster homes presented not so much a more severe pathology but on the whole a ‘noisier’ type of manifestation. Other interesting observations were made on adopted children and on the groups with working and non-working mothers. Some comparisons between the diagnosis and prognoses established by the team, and a study of the relationship between the recommendations made and those carried out, brought about an increased awareness of our own level of efficiency. A survey of the recommendations made for the less talented children indicated a bias in favour of the more talented group.