Abstract
In a controlled study, emergency referrals to a child psychiatric clinic showed increased depressive and suicidal symptomatology and more perceptual abnormalities. There was also more commonly a recent deterioration in the presenting condition. Parents rated themselves as depressed more frequently and there were more problems in the father-child relationship. There were no significant associations between emergency referrals and ratings of family dysfunction, availability of an extended family or contact with social agencies, but there was a trend towards increased use of the latter by the emergency group. The results highlight the need for early child-centred psychiatric intervention in a minority of conditions of children and adolescents.
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