Psychopathology in the Pediatric Hospital: Implications for the Pediatrician

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Abstract
A study of the incidence and range of psychopathology in a random sample of admissions to a pediatric hospital revealed: (a) an unexpectedly high incidence of children manifesting psychopathology or difficulties in emotional adaptation considered by the child psychiatrist to warrant psychiatric consultation (63.7 percent); (b) the pediatric staff requested consultation on nine of fifty-one of these children (17.6 percent) considered to manifest difficulties in emotional adaptation. Factors including the acuteness of medical illness, its treatability, the age of the child, and the nature of the emotional disorder were found to be related to the pediatrician's failure to recognize the need for consultation. The usefulness of random screening procedures is considered as a teaching device to alert pediatricians to the existence of psychopathology which they otherwise might not recognize.

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