Continuity and Intervention in Emotional Disturbance: A Review

Abstract

This paper reviews the research related to two central working hypotheses in the clinical treatment of children with behavior disorders. The first hypothesis, that emotional disturbance in childhood leads to mental illness in adult life, is examined by means of retrospective studies of adult mental patients and by adult followup of child guidance clinic patients. The second hypothesis, that the process of emotional disturbance may be interrupted by clinical treatment, is examined by means of studies comparing the adjustment of children who have received psychotherapy to the adjustment of similar children who have not received psychotherapy.