CHILD GUIDANCE CLINIC

Child guidance methods originated in pioneer work of Healy, in the USA,as psychiatrist to a juvenile court in Chicago where the first scientific study of juvenile delinquents was attempted by him. Ultimately the Juvenile psychopathic Institute of Chicago was founded by him in 1909.

INDIA The first CGC the was started in India in 1939 at the TATA institute Mumbai The CGC in Delhi was started in 1955 at RAK CON, simultaneously with madras. there after there has been a slow growth.As per WHO, there should be a CGC for every 1 lakh children. today we have around 120 CGC as against 9,500.

DEFINITION 1) Stevenson and smith defined child guidance as “attempts to marshal the resources of the community on behalf of children, who are in distress because of unsatisfied inner needs or are seriously at outs with there environment-children whose development is thrown out of balance by difficulties which revile themselves in unhealthy traits, unacceptable behavior, or inability to cope with social and scholastic exploitations”.

2) A child guidance clinic is one of the medico- social amenities and may be best defined as a centre for the organized and scientific study and treatment of maladjustment in children.

Whenever a child is referred to the Clinic, he usually always comes with other associated problems also. There are three cardinal differentiating points between adult and child psychiatry :

1). The enormous influence of environment (particularly the immediate environment) on the child’s mental processes. Immediate environment includes parents, brothers, sisters, teachers and companions. In children, problems are caused by environment as opposed to the adults’. It is often due to direct frustration. Simple adjustments in environment cure the disorder.

Eg., during the last world war when children were removed from the heavily bombed areas to safety zones, thus causing temporary separation from the parents, a number of them showed signs of maladjustment by manifesting behavior problems like, delinquency, bedwetting, etc. but when these children joined their parents again, the problems disappeared.

2). Plasticity on the child’s mind: in the adult the problem of adjustment is complicated by the existence of a long accumulation of faulty habit patterns and rigid reaction-formations. In the child these are not yet firmly established. Thus, it is easier to treat and the results are quicker than in adults. 3). The egoistic tendencies :The child has egoistic tendencies: a desire for praise and affection, self- assertion, self-display, rivalry, and jealousy which are more evident in a children with behavior problems.

PRINCIPLES OF CHILD GUIDANCE TREATMENT The treatment of the child is carried out not by one person but by a team of workers. The child is treated as a whole and the personality has many aspects. Thus, by working together they formulate a plan of treatment and reintegrate the personality and bring about lasting benefit to the individual.

The TREATMENT can be divided broadly as: 1). Treatment of the child himself. A). Treatment of any physical illness if it is present. B). Psychotherapy which includes : (a) Suggestion and Persuasion. (b) Hypnosis (c) Re-education (d) psychoanalysis

C).Play therapy and other forms of expressive therapies D).Change of environment as treatment : (a) Foster home placement. (b) Institutional placement. (c)School’s part in changing the child’s behavior.

2) Family attitudes as a focus of treatment. A). Attitude therapy to the parents. B). Treatment of psychoneurosis or psychosis in parents, if and when necessary.

ROLE OF NURSE  The nurse can help prevent by identifying risk cases in the community.  Educating the public  Not only encouraging but also undertaking research studies herself.  Provide holistic nursing care

 Lobby for child rights.  Nurse plays an important role in the child guidance clinic.  Help establish good child parent bond as well as good teacher parent child bond by guiding them.  Be a exemplary role model

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