Patient Case Files and Patient Data

This section comprises case material, including 112 case files of children who were patients at the Clinic for Nervous and Difficult Children and later the Institute of for Child Psychology, 1927-1976 (PP/LOW/ZB/1-111); case studies often in form of theses written by students of the ICP, 1937-1960 (PP/LOW/ZB/112); psychological reports and intelligence tests carried out by the Institute of Child Psychology, 1978-1982 (PP/LOW/ZB/113); and one request for information about a former patient , 1998 (PP/LOW/ZB/114).

The patient files usually contain psychological assessment forms; correspondence with school authorities, local GP or other doctors, social workers and parents; intelligence evaluation tests; results of psychiatric tests and related reports; reports and notes on the child's social background, parents and family; detailed notes on playroom performance and therapy sessions; mosaic drawings; free hand drawings; progress reports; school reports.

This material provides a vivid and detailed insight into the lives and therapeutic treatment of 'problem' children notably in the 1920s to the 1960s. It is often stated in background reports that the child has a neurotic or nervous mother, violent father or father suffering the long term effects of post World War One and other traumatic stess disorders, e.g. shell shock. The files are also a rich source on how behavioural patterns, intellectual ability and and character traits in chidlren were viewed by the therapists and society, social attitudes of the time, middle class thinking and angst about their children; the therapists also may point out if a child has an 'over-keen' interest in sex or sexual organs. A lot of the children represented in these files were referred to the clinic for educational difficulties, 'backwardness' or slowness, 'dullness', or bad behaviour at home or in the school classroom as well as more serious matters such as truanting and stealing.

1927-1998

25 boxes