Depression In Childhood *

As Gaul, one of our mother countries depression remains open to controversy. in bicultural Canada, and as the orthoWith Bradley and Anthony (3), I believe psychiatric team in child psychiatry, the that only cases under the age of twelve panel on depressive illnesses in childhood and before puberty should be considered was divided into three parts. The clinical in this respect. The paper read by Dr. portion consisted of three presentations: Winn is quite pertinent, if only by the two on suicidal attempts, observed respecextremely high percentage (85%) of tively in adolescent girls by Dr. Bigras, schizophrenic and organic states diagand in children of both sexes by Drs. nosed in the twelve reported suicidal gesWinn and Halla; and a psychiatric report tures; the authors describe depression as by Dr. Gauthier of a ten-year-old boy's a 'symptom', not as an illness. Mahler's reaction to his father's death. We were statement on the subject is unequivocal: privileged to view the premiere of a film "We know that systematized affective made for teaching purposes by Dr. disorders are unknown in childhood. It Taylor Statten, whose flawless perhas been conclusively established that the formance as a play therapist is highly immature personality structure of the commended; the effect of a mother's uninfant or older child is not capable of proresolved mourning of a deceased child on ducing a state of depression such as seen the development of a school phobia in in the adult" (11). Such an attitude is not the younger sibling is dissolved by the restricted to child psychiatrists. Bellak working through of latent family tenand Meduna, however conflicting their sions and the boy's rapid insight into the explanations may be, both refuse to submeaning of his rebellious and frightened scribe to the classical distinction between behaviour. In an important theoretical affective and schizophrenic disorders (4). contribution, based on elegant and deAlthough dementia infanti/is was cisive experiments with the new-born and coined in 1908 by Heller and dementia toddlers, Dr. Salk introduced prenatal praecocissima in 1925 by Sancte de imprinting by the maternal heart-beat as Sanctis, childhood schizophrenia entered the fountainhead of security from inclinical psychiatry rather recently. Kanfancy to adulthood; disturbances at the ner, in 1943, described "the autistic discritical period of intra-uterine life would turbances of affective contact"; Bender, account for the vast numbers of uncured in 1947, wrote on "childhood schizopsychiatric patients, while the normal phrenia"; Mahler, in 1952, discussed sequel of this early process is to be found "autistic and symbiotic infantile psyin the rhythmic expressions of human culchoses", These authors all insist on the ture, "for dancing", wrote Havelock characteristic features of childhood psyEllis in the Dance of Life, "is the loftiest, choses, which should not be confused nor the most moving, the most beautiful of identified with similar nosological catethe arts, because . it is life itself, . " gories in adult psychiatry. Mahler emthe only art . of which we ourselves phasizes the fact that "we are dealing are the stuff". with certain constellations, groupings, or The discussion showed to what extent patterns of symptoms-that is to say, we the concept, stricto sensu, of childhood are dealing with syndromes" (12). More"Report of the Chairman of the Panel on Depressive over, the norm being defined in relaIllnesses in Childhood. • f 1Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medition to the development 0 the child, one cine, Universite de Montreal; Training Analyst, Cana-" " f d wi h he bl f dian Institute of Psychoanalysis; Consultant in Child IS again con ronte Wit t pro em 0 Psychiatry and Director of Group Psychotherapy, applying a structural diagnosis to a growH6pital Sainte-Justine (Montreal).