Neurological dysfunction and childhood behavioral pathology

Abstract

The relationship between neurological dysfunction and childhood behavioral pathology was examined in the case material of a 19-year child psychiatry consultation practice involving 1,400 patients, 838 boys and 562 girls, ranging in age from 13 weeks to 19 years at the time of initial consultation. Eighty-eight neurologically damaged children, 60 boys and 28 girls, and matched controls were compared for presenting complaints, psychiatric diagnoses, and the special group of symptoms commonly thought to be associated with brain damage: hyperactivity, short attention span, distractibility, mood oscillation, high impulsivity and perseveration. Perseveration was the sole symptom statistically more characteristic of the neurologically damaged children. Clustering of 3 or more of the special symptoms was significantly related to neurological damage; other than perseveration the presence of 1 or 2 of the special symptoms failed to distinguish the groups, while absence of all special symptoms characterized the neurologically intact controls. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.