The schizophrenic child.

Abstract

THERE IS a great deal more optimism in our day for the treatment of the schizophrenic child than even ten years ago. Ekstein,1in his survey of the literature of the past few decades dealing with childhood schizophrenia and allied conditions, has pointed to the specific effort of workers in this field at an understanding of the intrinsic structure of this childhood personality disorganization and the relationship of this structure to its symptomatology, as steps in the right direction toward reaching a rationale for the treatment of this complex condition. Readers are referred to this comprehensive survey for a critical and perspicacious overview of the problems of etiology and diagnosis which have been posed to clinicians by the disordered forms of behavior which have been classified under childhood schizophrenia (see also Des Lauriers2). Bystructureof the schizophrenic