[Clinical diagnosis of childhood psychoses].

I have tried to summarize the different points of view in regard to clinical diagnosis of child psychosis. The main purpose is to reach a more universal agreement to base a diagnosis that allows us not only to facilitate an early diagnosis but also its treatment and above all better bases for research. Infantile psychosis varies at different levels of growth, according to age, however it is considered that psychosis in children is basically a disturbance in ego-functions. This is clearly evident in the thinking process, in affect, perception, motility, language, individualization, disturbance of object relations, and lost of contact with reality. The basic points for the diagnosis of child psychosis proposed by the "Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry" and initially studied by the English working party headed by Goldberg and col. are discussed: disturbances of their interpersonal relationships, indifference or preoccupation with inanimate objects, lack or failure in speech development, alteration in sensorial perception, bizarre or stereotyped behavior, resistance to change routines or change of environment, poor personal identification, crises of anger or panic which are not predictable and finally an uneven intellectual development.