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).

Read more about this topic:  James Robertson (psychoanalyst)

Famous quotes containing the words young, children and/or hospital:

    “Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.”
    —Bible: Hebrew Song of Solomon, 4:5.

    “Other people’s harvests are always the best harvests, but one’s own children are always the best children.”
    —Chinese proverb.

    “Radio put technology into storytelling and made it sick. TV killed it. Then you were locked into somebody else’s sighting of that story. You no longer had the benefit of making that picture for yourself, using your imagination. Storytelling brings back that humanness that we have lost with TV. You talk to children and they don’t hear you. They are television addicts. Mamas bring them home from the hospital and drag them up in front of the set and the great stare-out begins.”
    —Jackie Torrence (b. 1944)