The mentally handicapped child and family crisis.
The defences of family members were studied in order to observe the reactions of the family when faced with a dysfunction in one of its members. Thirty families with a mentally handicapped child were studied, and the attitudes of parents, grandparents and siblings towards the handicapped child were examined. The data showed that the birth of a mentally handicapped child interrupts the normal life-cycle of the family, leading to a crisis. The first reaction in the parents was most often found to be denial, but ultimately adaptation was demonstrated in nearly 80% of the parents. Many of the siblings' and grandparents' reactions differed significantly from those of the parents, being more positive than those of the latter.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012801:Sibling Relations