James Robertson (psychoanalyst) - Young Children in Hospital

Young Children in Hospital

At the time, visiting of children in hospitals was severely restricted. In a survey of London Hospitals (Munro-Davies, 1949) the visiting hours were:

  • Guy's Hospital, Sundays, 2–4 pm;
  • St Bartholomew's, Wednesdays 2–3:30 pm;
  • Westminster Hospital, Wednesdays 2–3 pm, Sundays 2–3 pm
  • St Thomas's Hospital, first month no visits, parents could see children asleep 7–8 pm;
  • West London Hospital, no visiting;
  • Charing Cross Hospital, Sundays, 3–4 pm;
  • London Hospital, under 3 years old, no visits, but parents could see children through partitions. Over 3 years old, twice weekly.

This caused great distress to the young patients, and it was well known in the community that a child could be 'changed' by a stay in hospital. However, little of this disquiet reached the hospitals, and later commentators would speak of 'an emotional resistance to the awareness of children's emotional needs and distress. The strength of this resistance is vividly illustrated by the work of James Robertson'.

When James Robertson first entered the children's ward to make observations, he was shocked by the unhappiness he saw among the youngest children, in particular those aged under 3. The competent, efficient doctors and nurses gave good medical care but seemed unaware of the suffering around them. They saw that children initially protested at separation from the parents, but then settled, becoming quiet and compliant. However, Robertson saw this as a danger signal.

Based on several years of observations in long and short stay wards, James Robertson formed a theory of phases of response of the under 3's to a stay in hospital without the mother: Protest, Despair and Denial/Detachment (James Robertson, 1953a).

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