AbstractsSocial Work

Enuresis is an ever recurring problem which is presented by a large number of children who come to the attention of a child guidance center. A survey of the literature in this field indicates that enuresis is not a clinical entity to which one can ascribe a single cause, but rather it is a symptom of an underlying emotional disturbance. If the enuretic child is to be helped with his problem, it is of vital importance to study each individual case in order to discover how that child is reacting to his environment and how his particular social experiences have affected him. Much material has been written about those experiences in early childhood which can create feelings of insecurity in the child and may lead to deeper disturbances later on in life. Enuresis can be viewed as an earlier manifestation of these disturbances. It is generally accepted that the most potent of all influences on social behaviour is derived from the “Primary social experience with the mother” during the oral stage. In this period the mother should be devoted to satisfying the demands made by the infant who is ruled by his impulses, and strives only to gratify his most primitive needs. The loving care and attention with which these needs are met is of vital importance to the infant’s sense of well-being and security. If he receives this, he will later learn to give up the pleasure derived from the immediate satisfaction of his instinctual needs [...]