London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Barnet 1970
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barnet]
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Table 1 analyses the cases by diagnostic categories using the proposed World
Health Organisation Classification of childhood psychiatric disorders. This Clinic is
taking part in a study of the effectiveness of the revised diagnostic categories before
the final revision is published.
TABLE 1 - DIAGNOSIS
| WHO Category | M | F | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 Normal Variation | 1 | 1 | |
| 1.0 Adaptation Reaction | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 Development Disorders | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 Conduct Disorders | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 Neurotic Disorders | 10 | 12 | 22 |
| 5 Psychosis | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 Personality Disorders | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 7 Psychosomatic Disorders | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 Other Clinical Syndromes | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 Mental Subnormality only | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Left before completion | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 42 | 26 | 65 |
These diagnostic categories are essentially clinical ones, pertaining to individual
patients, and take no account of social interaction and pathology, particularly within a
family, which is our particular interest.
Since we give priority to children under 5 years and to disturbances of acute onset,
it is not surprising that nearly a third of the cases that we saw last year, were cases of
school refusal.
TABLE 2 - SCHOOL REFUSAL
| WHO Diagnostic Category | M | F | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptation Reaction | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Neurotic Disorder | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| Conduct Disorder | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Personality Disorder | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Psychosis and other categories | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 9 | 21 |