Disturbed Children

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31087, 16 June 1966, Page 14

Disturbed Children

Sir, —One must sympathise with Dr. Livingstone’s disappointment at the absence from the annual meeting of the Canterbury Association for Mental Health of representatives from organisations that should be most concerned; perhaps those of us who had unavoidable other engagements could attend future meetings. A child who is physically ill is removed to a hospital or health camp, kepf there till cured and the home environment checked for possible harmful factors. Surely, in the name of humanity, a child who is mentally ill should be treated similarly. The number of “teacher-psychiatrists” at present equals that of ground-to-air missile experts, but if somebody did press a wrong button and head us for chaos, a crash survival-programme would soon provide money, weapon-complexes, and men to operate them. It is the simple duty of responsible education and medical leaders to initiate a similar crashprogramme for mental health.

—Yours, etc., J. F. WILLIAMS. June 13, 1966. Sir,—“Nothing is done.” This is what tries the teacher, who sees but cannot give the time needed to cope with disturbed children. Speech clinics, reading clinics, psychological testing, welfare services exist and do valuable work, but there is a pressing case for a clinic for the emotionally disturbed—or a therapy centre or what you will.—Yours, etc., ANOTHER TEACHER. June 14, 1966. Sir,—The Freudian probe referred to by Mr Sheehan, was fortunately no help in the following case. A little first-born girl, told of an imminent arrival in the family and previously told babies arrived from cabbage patches, took a hatpin in jealousy and carefully pierced the hearts of all the cabbages in the garden. The baby was stillborn and she was then told it had been dead on arrival. She grew up subject to miscarriages and “nerves" a Freudian probe revealing that in childhood she believed the hatpin had killed the baby. There was no cure, however, because before the hatpin there had still been the evil intent. She was not fit for motherhood. The shortage of basic Christians is probably more acute than that of Varian Wilson’s “clinical psychologists.” A lot of the trouble stems from the children disturbing the parents who become “disturbed” and then the children ape that ■ “disturbance.”— Yours, etc., A. B. CEDARIAN. June 15, 1966.