Hospitalism

Hospitalism

Hospitalism (or "anaclitic depression" in its sublethal form) was a pediatric diagnosis used in the 1930s to describe infants who wasted away while in hospital. The symptoms could include retarded physical development, and disruption of perceptual-motor skills and language. [Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, R Sapolsky, Henry Holt & Co 2004, p 366] It is now understood that this wasting disease was mostly caused by a lack of social contact between the infant and its caregivers. Infants in poorer hospitals were less subject to this disease since those hospitals could not afford incubators which meant that the hospital staff regularly held the infants.

The term was used by the psychotherapist René Spitz in 1945, but its origins are older than this; it occurs in an editorial in "Archives on Pediatrics" as early as 1897. [ [http://www.neonatology.org/classics/crandall.html Neonatology on the Web: Crandall, Hospitalism, 1897 ] ]

It appears under adjustment disorders at ICD10|F|43|2|f|40, in the World Health Organisations classification of diseases, ICD-10.

References

* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2602/is_0000/ai_2602000035 Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence]


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  • Hospitalism — Hos pi*tal*ism, n. (Med.) A vitiated condition of the body, due to long confinement in a hospital, or the morbid condition of the atmosphere of a hospital. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • hospitalism — hospitalísm s. n. Trimis de siveco, 12.03.2009. Sursa: Dicţionar ortografic …   Dicționar Român

  • hospitalism — /hos pi tl iz euhm/, n. 1. hospital conditions having an adverse effect on patients. 2. the adverse mental and physical effects caused by such conditions. 3. the physiological and psychological consequences of living in a hospital, nursing home,… …   Universalium

  • hospitalism — noun maternal deprivation of infants who are in long term institutional care …   Wiktionary

  • hospitalism — hos·pi·tal·ism häs (.)pit əl iz əm n 1 a) the factors and influences that adversely affect the health of hospitalized persons b) the effect of such factors on mental or physical health 2) the deleterious physical and mental effects on infants and …   Medical dictionary

  • hospitalism — n. depression caused by a stay in the hospital …   English contemporary dictionary

  • hospitalism — noun the adverse effects of a prolonged stay in hospital …   English new terms dictionary

  • hospitalism — hos·pi·tal·ism …   English syllables

  • hospitalism — /ˈhɒspətəlɪzəm/ (say hospuhtuhlizuhm) noun the gradual decline in the health of people who remain in hospital for a long period of time. {hospital + ism; coined by René Spitz, Viennese born psychoanalyst, 1887–1974, in his study of… …  

  • hospitalism — n. the adverse effects of a prolonged stay in hospital …   Useful english dictionary

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