Abandoned child syndrome
Abandoned child syndrome is a behavioral or psychological condition that results from the loss of one or both parents. Abandonment may be physical (the parent is not present in the child's life) or emotional (the parent withholds affection, nurturing, or stimulation).[1]
Parents who leave their children, whether with or without good reason, can cause psychological damage to the child. This damage is reversible, but only with appropriate assistance.[2] Abandoned children may also often suffer physical damage from neglect, malnutrition, starvation, and abuse.
The abandoned child syndrome is not recognized as a mental disorder in any of the medical manuals, such as the ICD-10[3] or the DSM-IV,[4] neither is it part of the proposed revision of this manual, the DSM-5.[5]
Many countries, including Russia and China, have an extremely high rate of physically abandoned children. A 1998 Human Rights Watch committee report found that more than 100,000 children per year were abandoned in Russia. Parents are separated from their children for many reasons, including trouble with the law, financial insecurity, the child's mental or physical challenges, and sometimes population control policies. Involuntary loss of a parent, such as through divorce or death, can also create abandonment issues.
[edit] Symptoms
Symptoms may be physical or mental, and may extend into adulthood and perhaps throughout a person's life.
- Alienation from the environment - withdrawal from social activities, resistance towards others.
- Guilt - the child believes that he/she did something wrong that caused the abandonment (often associated with depression)
- Fear and uncertainty - "clinginess", insecurities [6]
- Sleep and eating disorders - malnutrition, starvation, disturbed sleep, nightmares [6]
- Physical ailments - fatigue, depression, lack of energy and creativity, anger, grief [6]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Henley, Arthur. "The abandoned child." Deviancy and the family. Ed. Clifton D. Bryant and J. Gipson Wells. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, 1973. 199-208.
- ^ "Children Deprived of Parental Care". Human Rights Watch. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20080513015551/hrw.org/children/deprived_care.htm.
- ^ "ICD 10". Priory.com. 2007-02-10. http://priory.com/psych/ICD.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
- ^ "BehaveNetŽ Clinical Capsule™: DSM-IV-TR Classification". Behavenet.com. http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/dsm4TRclassification.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
- ^ "Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence | APA DSM-5". Dsm5.org. http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/InfancyChildhoodAdolescence.aspx. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
- ^ a b c Myers, Linda Joy (2005). "Connecting the Past and the Present: Healing Abandonment and Abuse through Awareness".
