Child Psychiatry Handouts

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we might see affects concerned with egocentric needs, jealousies, and so
forth. In 5- or 6-year-olds, we expect a range of affects, with predominant
types reflecting some degree of organization and depth around themes
ofjealousy and competition as well as love and curiosity. In 8- or 9-year-
types of affect, age will be a determining factor. With a 2- or 3-year-old,
In terms of the organization, depth, variation, and (predominant)
emerging personality structure of the youngster.
child age 8 or 9, you would expect some stabilization of mood. At the same
time, the content of the mood—happy, sad, depressed, apprehensive, and
so forth—would be independent of age and would be determined by the
In terms of mood, you might expect to see variations in younger chil
dren depending on their immediate external circumstances. A shift from
elation to sadness in the course of an hour would not raise concern. In a
you would expect the capacity for emotional relatedness to be present.
year-old. In the latter, coordination in gross motor capacities may already
be developed, whereas some fine motor capacities will be just emerging
(e.g., holding a pencil and drawing lines). In a child age 7 or 8, in con
trast, fine motor skills will be quite developed. With respect to style of relatedness, you would expect a 3-year-old to relate in a need-fulfilling
manner, whereas you would expect a 7- or 8-year-old to show a more bal
anced capacity for partnership and sharing. In both instances, however,
dination of a 7- or 8-year-old are quite different from those of a 2- to 3-
chart. We see that, for example, both the fine and the gross motor coor
ences in the categories described in Chapter 2 by means of a schematic
In this chapter, I further illustrate the age- and phase-appropriate differ
Observational Category
Illustrations for Each
Phase-Appropriate
Chronological Age- and
Chapter 3