Psychosocial Issues and Child Abuse

This chapter covers all aspects of the psychosocial issues that confront the pediatrician: divorce, puberty, sibling rivalry, separation anxiety, adoption, foster care, and children’s understanding of death and their stages of grief. Specific medical conditions discussed include enuresis, encopresis, pain, psychosomatic disorders, sleep disorders, night pain, and vulnerable child syndrome (VCS), among others. Other subjects covered are the child’s use of media, chronic illness, the gifted child, and child abuse and neglect.