Clinical child psychology: The need for developmental principles

Abstract

Clinical child psychology is in dire need of advances in diagnoses and treatment. The author suggests several ways this goal can be achieved through the application of developmental psychology. Clinical Child Psychology: The Need for Developmental Principles Sebastiano SantostefanoThe clinical child psychologist is in dire need of advances in diagnostic and treatment techniques and in concepts that guide what-is observed and how to understand these observations. Compared to earlier clinicians who worked primarily in child guidance clinics and with children suffering from neuroses, the clinician today confronts a broader array of ages and social-psychological problems. For example, the clinician may see a six-year-old who is hyperactive and restless with no organic cause, a twelve-year-old who has been a slow learner since the first grade in spite of adequate intelligence, and a fifteen-year-old who, although usually shy and passive, occasionally explodes in violence.Approaching these problems with the techniques they have inherited, clinicians are finding more and more that diagnostic methods (traditional intelligence, perceptual, and projective tests) and treatment methods (psychotherapy) are insufficient. Clinicians find, for example, that the aggression an adolescent shows on projective tests does not always correspond to the aggression he or she shows in the school yard and that the learning disability handicapping a child does not always respond to psychotherapy. New Directionrfm Child Deuelopmmt, 7, 19801 2 How should the clinician proceed to search for technological advances? The recommendation made here is that the child clinical psychologist introduce developmental principles into clinical concepts and techniques. At first glance this recommendation may appear strange. Is clinical child psychology not synonymous with developmental psychology? If a psychologist works with children, is the work not routinely conducted through the lens of developmental psychology? The answer to both questions is no.

Clinical-developmental interface: Implications of developmental research for adolescent psychotherapy.

“…Our review has revealed that there is an appreciable lack of interface between developmental psychology and clinical treatment with adolescents. This lack of attention has occurred despite numerous "calls" for research in this area (e.g., Holmbeck & Kendall, 1991;Santostefano, 1980;Tolan & Cohler, 1993). In this article, we have reviewed a Framework for Understanding Adolescence which illustrates the major developmental tasks of the adolescent period.…”

Organizational perspective on cognitive control functioning and cognitive-affective balance in maltreated children.

“…Moreover, the work to date has not explored important developmental–adaptational considerations that may serve to clarify crucial aspects of the relationship between cognition and affect in maltreated children. The theory of cognitive control development proposed by Santostefano (1978) permits simultaneous emphasis on stages of development, mobility of functions, and the regulation of affects and appears to be extremely useful in guiding the study of cognition as it relates to emotion regulation.…”

“…Cognitive controls are conceptualized as mechanisms that determine the ways in which the individual uniquely organizes, interprets, and makes use of information. These cognitive control processes can be measured reliably, follow explicit courses in development from immaturity to maturity, predict the emergence of learning disabilities, underlie intellectual and academic functioning, and define an individual's cognitive accommodations to changing environments (see Santostefano, 1978; 1985).…”

“…The concept of cognitive–affective balance (Santostefano, 1978) derives from the proposition of mobility noted above and further addresses the interrelation of cognition and affect in personality development. Cognitive activity is viewed as central in seeking to maintain a balance between inner fantasies, affects and needs, and outer information.…”

Body image, relational psychoanalysis, and the construction of meaning: Implications for treating aggressive children

“…Another study (Santostefano, 1980), also using an earlier form of this scale, compared youth hospitalized because of aggressive behaviors to nonaggressive youth hospitalized in the same facility. Among the findings observed, the aggressive youth produced fewer images depicting motion and interaction, suggesting that experiences with others tended to remain unsymbolized and embodied and had not yet been translated and available to the more conscious fantasy mode.…”