The thesis put forward in this paper is that school phobia is part of the natural history of the depressive disorders, and is but one of the modes of presentation of such disorders in childhood. A family constellation, the depressive constellation, has been described as typical for these cases, and it is suspected that this type of family will be found in many of the other modes of presentation of depression in childhood. Suggestions have been made by which the propositions put forward may be checked and expanded.
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