This book represents a follow-up study, made in 1965, of 277 youngsters seen between 1950 and 1954 in the Department of Child Psychiatry in Rikshospitalet, Oslo. The clinic, during its early years, had served primarily as a diagnostic facility, so the present study is not intended to evaluate psychiatric treatment of these youngsters but rather to show how they were adjusting some years later. The authors divide the sample into four main groups: neurotic, psychotic, mentally retarded, and those with organic brain damage. It is remarkable that such a large percentage of the original group could be located and seen personally by the authors or interviewed by others or by questionnaire. Certainly this could never be accomplished in the United States.
The disappointing thing is the paucity of real data presented. For example, the authors conclude that psychotic children fail to grow intellectually when placed in institutions for the retarded