Alleviation of toddler's diarrhoea by environmental management.
Twenty-nine children, consecutively referred to paediatricians following prolonged histories of toddler's diarrhoea and diverse behaviour difficulties, were offered treatment that comprised counselling of parental anxiety towards alleviation of environmental stress and training and support for parents in consistent and effective management of child behaviour. Twenty-one subjects (72%) completed treatment, 20 of whom reached criterion cure of diarrhoea in a mean of 2.19 months; the remaining child also showed marked decreased frequency of diarrhoea. Maternal ratings of children's behaviour before and after treatment indicated significant improvement; observations by clinicians of child behaviour and parent/child interaction concurred. Improvement in both diarrhoea and behaviour was maintained upon reassessment after a further 6 months. This effective treatment method, combined with conclusions from previous investigations suggest a 'psychosomatic' model for the aetiology of toddler's diarrhoea whereby complex environmental influences on the child are mediated through physical processes.
D001007:Anxiety / Q000628:therapy; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003376:Counseling; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000628:therapy*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology