[Psychosomatic aspects of growth retardation]
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1Division de pédopsychiatrie, Hôpital de l'Enfance, Lausanne.
Insights
Emotional deprivation can cause failure to thrive in children, leading to growth hormone deficiency. Removing the child from the harmful environment reverses this, offering insights into psychosomatic disorders.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric endocrinology
- Child psychology
- Psychosomatic medicine
Context:
- Emotional deprivation is a recognized factor contributing to failure to thrive (FTT) in children.
- Deprivation dwarfism, a form of FTT, is linked to reversible growth hormone deficiency.
- The condition highlights the intricate interplay between a child's environment and biological development.
Purpose:
- To explore the etiopathogenesis of psychosomatic disorders in children.
- To investigate the connection between biological, environmental, and psychic factors in growth disturbances.
- To establish emotional deprivation as a model for studying childhood psychosomatic conditions.
Summary:
- Emotional deprivation can induce failure to thrive and growth hormone deficiency in children.
- This growth impairment is reversible upon removal from a detrimental environment.
- The phenomenon provides a unique model for understanding psychosomatic influences on physical growth.
Impact:
- Offers a model for studying the biological, environmental, and psychological links in pediatric psychosomatic disorders.
- Enhances understanding of growth hormone regulation in response to psychosocial stress.
- Informs clinical approaches to failure to thrive and deprivation dwarfism by emphasizing environmental factors.
Abstract:
Emotional deprivation is one of the possible causes of failure to thrive. Deprivation dwarfism is also associated with growth hormone deficiency, which disappears when the child is removed from his harmful environment. This phenomenon may constitute a pertinent model for etiopathogenic studies in child psychosomatics with particular emphasis on exploration of the linkage between biological, environmental and psychic factors.