title: The replacement child--a developmental tragedy: some preliminary comments.
abstract: Some of the clinical and theoretical issues thought to be involved in the psychology of "replacement children" are discussed. A developmental framework is proposed within which to view such children. The replacement child is becoming an identifiable clinical syndrome, and a developmental framework is sorely needed to encourage more systematic research. A replacement child perceives his status differently on both a cognitive and emotional level within the context of each developmental phase, and the affective and associative links need to be reworked each time. We view the status of being a replacement child as a developmental interference insofar as demands are placed on the child's immature ego which he might not yet be equipped to cope with.
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003643:Death; D005197:Famous Persons; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D012649:Self Concept