[Nic Waal--the mother of Norwegian child and adolescent psychiatry].
Nic (Caroline) Waal (1905-60) is said to be the mother of Norwegian child and adolescent psychiatry. She was an engaged and engaging personality, outgoing, at times aggressive and at the same time very sensitive. Her sensitivity caused her suffering but it was an asset in her work with patients. She qualified in medicine in Oslo in 1930 and received her psychoanalytic training in Berlin and Oslo. She was certified as a psychoanalyst in 1933, as a psychiatrist in 1951 and--among the first in Norway--as a child psychiatrist in 1953. From 1953 till her untimely death in 1960 she was head of Nic Waal's Institute, a treatment centre and training institute for all child psychiatric professions. Through the training she provided and her published work she has had considerable influence on the development of child psychiatry in Norway and in Scandinavia. She also developed her own method of psychodiagnosis through the study of patients' pattern of muscular tensions. Her institute is still active and expanding, having included family therapy and neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry.
Lange
Jon
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000266:history