[Severe pediatric psychiatric problems in a Danish county. Admitted patients during a 10-year period in the county of Funen].

This retrospective case record describes all the child psychiatric in- and day-patients in one Danish county in the period 1978-1987. A total of 148 patients (18% of all the child psychiatric patients) was treated as in- or day-patient. Sixty-two percent were boys, with a mean age of 8.1 years, the mean-age for girls was 9.0 years. Adversities in the family appear to be great in this population. The families had experienced broken homes (44% of the inpatients vs 29% of the daypatients), parental death (18% vs 9%) and/or parental mental illness (21% vs 15%). The diagnoses and the treatment modalities agree well with investigations from other Nordic countries. Neurosis infantilis (19% vs 9%) and anorexia nervosa (18% vs 0%) are more common among inpatients, whereas adjustment disorder (18% vs 32%) is more common among daypatients. The treatment modalities include parent-guidance, psychotherapy, dyadic relationship and pharmacotherapy. At discharge 18% of the inpatients and 6% of the daypatients were placed in institutions and 12% and 4% respectively in foster families, and respectively 38% and 42% needed to be moved from an ordinary school to a specialized school. There is a need for documentation of the effectiveness of inpatient and daypatient treatment.