The Stressed Child

Abstract

This article is addressed to issues that cause stress in children, but are not outward and obvious such as illness or lack of food and shelter.

From the point of view of a child psychiatrist, separation from important members of the family (or threat of separation) is one of the major stresses of childhood, particularly in the child under three years of age. Unfortunately, cultural influences from Anglo-Saxon sources have been one of the main sources of untoward separation of young children through hospitalisation or assessment at distant places. This was in ignorance of the harmful effects of separating young children from the person they are attached to most.