[Present problems of the mentally handicapped (author's transl)].

At the present time mental handicap has become a multidimensional polydisciplinary task. A structurally static consideration of the pathological anatomic data as an unalterable situation due to cerebral organic deficiency or classifying the handicap as a disease is no longer tenable. Therefore training programs with a joint medical and medical pedagogic approach are becoming increasingly important. Yet there still remains much to clarify in causal - and therapeutic - research. The situation of the parents and sublings in the family with a handicapped child is consequently subject to special problems and psychosocial stress.