Hospitalism

Hospitalism (or anaclitic depression in its sublethal form)[1] was a pediatric diagnosis used in the 1930s to describe infants who wasted away while in a hospital. The symptoms could include decreased physical development and disruption of perceptual-motor skills and language.[2] In the first half of the 20th century, hospitalism was discovered to be linked to social deprivation between an infant and its caregiver.[3] The term was in use in 1945, but the term can be traced back as early as 1897.[4]

It appears under adjustment disorders at F43.2, in the World Health Organization's classification of diseases, ICD-10.[5]

  1. ^ "Anaclitic Depression | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  2. ^ Robert Sapolsky (2004). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. Henry Holt & Co. p. 366.
  3. ^ Rowold, Katharina (November 2019). "What Do Babies Need to Thrive? Changing Interpretations of 'Hospitalism' in an International Context, 1900–1945". Social History of Medicine. 32 (4): 799–818. doi:10.1093/shm/hkx114. PMC 6913704. PMID 31857744.
  4. ^ Neonatology on the Web: Crandall, Hospitalism, 1897
  5. ^ Wold Health Organization (WHO) (2019). "The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders (Version 2019)". icd.who.int. Retrieved 2022-05-19.