I
uqe 12BAThe Battalion/Friday, August 31,1984
School phobia: disorder hits
and leaves lifelong effects
United Press International
BOSTON — One young student
said he was afraid the school’s boiler
would explode. A slow-to-develop
adolescent complained she was
forced to undress for gym class. And
a popular teen suddenly developed
an irrational fear of failure.
These children are victims of school
phobia, a psychological disorder that
strikes children from kindergarten
through college and may plague
them for the rest of their lives.
Experts say school phobia is most
often seen between kindergarten
and third grade. At this point it is
usually a problem of separation anx
iety — the child is afraid to leave
home.
Anxiety builds as the time to leave
for school nears and if forced to go,
the child is often highly disruptive
and must be removed from class.
When returned home the child
usually plays happily, as if nothing
happened.
“School phobia is never just the
child’s problem. It’s always the child
and parent,” said Dr. Gordon
Harper, an assistant professor of
psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School. “Mothers communicate their
fear of the outside world to a child in
very subtle ways.”
Most often the child’! anxieties show
themselves as real physical prob
lems.
“I had a friend with a child in the
first grade who said his teeth hurt
and then his arms and legs began to
hurt,” said Harper. “So she took the
child to her pediatrician, who must
have been very wise, because he said,
‘Too many symptoms, someone
doesn’t want to go to school.’”
As in the case of the child who was
scared of the boiler, school phobia
does not always manifest itself in
aches and pains. The symptoms may
be very suotle and difficult to diag
nose.
Cases of adolescent school phobia
tend to be more rare, but also far
more difficult to diagnose and treat.
“These kids are usually deeply dis
turbed and the place it usually shows
up is in school refusal,” he said.
“The psychological disturbances can
often be quite elusive.
“For instance, a boy I’ve been
working with is a freshman in high
school. He insists that he doesn’t
“the world’s greatest dribbler.”
While he passes, dunks and drib
bles, nearby workers cut and sew the
filtration bags produced at his plant.
Haynes said he plans to add two
more rows of sewing machines
within weeks.
“We’re ahead of ourselves,” he
said, referring to orders to be filled.
Hayneco has been in production
about three months, turning out air
filtration bags for industrial pollut
ion control. Haynes’ 11 employees
cut, sew and package the bags in a
12,900-square-foot factory.
Haynes said his company man
ufactures the bags for industries, in
cluding steel and coal plants.
want to go to school, not that he's
afraid to go to school. He wasn’t
aware of his fear and therefore he
couldn’t come to grips with it.”
Sometimes the student may be
afraid of one specific thing in school.
Gym class is a common case, as is
math. Children are highly conscious
of their physical appearance and
those who may be obese or have not
reached puberty are very embar
rassed.
“Sometimes it is very inhuman
how children are treated in school,”
said Dr. Melvin D. Levine, chief of
ambulatory pediatrics at Childrens
Hospital in Boston. “It is extremely
important to children that they
avoid humiliation at all costs. No
adult would be forced to expose a
part of their body they are most inse
cure about.”
These cases can often be solve by
changing some small aspect of the
school environment.
As academic and extracurricular ob
ligations grow heavier, the teen may
develop a fear of failure that keeps
him or her from school. Ironically,
this most often happens to the best
students.
“It’s usually the high Achieving, high
flying kid. Out of the blue they re
fuse to go to school and don’t know
why. We find out often the kid has
hyperinflated expectations and
things are going so well they develop
an inordinate fear the bubble is
going to burst.”
A study conducted by Dr. John C.
Collidge, a senior psychiatrist at the
Judge Baker Guidance Center,
found children with school phobia
often run into psychological prob
lems later in life, despite having
been treated for the school phobia.
The children of parents who had
school phobia also tended to have
problems. Collidge said he is just be
ginning to see the children of people
he treated when they were children,
but there seems to be a very strong
connection. He said he has found
one family with instances of school
phobia and separation anxiety that
extend back 76 years.
Experts seem to agree the problem is
best treated when caught early. Par
ents should be aware of increasing
anxiety in their child and frequent
trips to the nurse. Parents who sus
pect a problem should consult with
school officials.
Industrial Globetrotter dribbles on
United Press International
TULSA, Okla. — The first piece
>f equipment delivered to former
Hlarlem Globetrotter Marques
Haynes’ new manufacturing plant
vas a basketball goal.
It’s Haynes’ way of taking a shot at
business without losing touch with
the world he has loved for more
than 40 years — comedy basketball.
“That’s the first thing that went
up,” said plant manager Chuck
Wright.
Haynes doesn’t mind an im
promptu performance, in shirt
sleeves and tie, of the athletic talents
that prompted the public to dub him
TV women’s roles
more responsible
United Press International
HOLLYWOOD — Women in
TV series are light years from the
bouncy sweetness of the “Doris
Day Snow,” the homemakers of
“Father Knows Best” and “Leave
It to Beaver” and the Barbies of
“Charlie’s Angels.”
TV is finally catching up to the
times, depicting today’s 1980s
women in an increasingly realistic
light in both comedy and drama.
The credit could go to the in
creasing number of women writ
ers, directors and producers.
More likely America's women
viewers are responsible for the
welcome trend to credible female
roles. They’ve tuned out on
women as sex objects or simple
male appendages.
The plastic sex symbols, dumb
blondes, long-suffering hausf-
raus and other conventional types
are still around, to be sure. But
the TV times they are achanging.
Look at Cagney and Lacy, a
pair of mature, tough-minded
women cops played by Tyne Daly
and Sharon Gless. Even better,
the dramatically realistic public
defender of “Hill Street Blues,”
brilliantly played by Veronica
Hamil.
Even Shelley Long in “Cheers”
plays an independent, strong-
willed comedic barmaid. She’s a
ding-a-ling, certainly, but she’s
very much her own woman.
And there’s newcomer Clare
Kirkconnell, who plays proud, in
dependent law student Rita Har-
riman in “The Paper Chase” on
cable’s Showtime.
Kirkconnell is one of many
young leading ladies who rejoice
at the crumbling institution nf
stereotypical women on the tub
“It would be difficult fo rrae „
to understand the wonderf
feeling it gives women viewer^
see females on TV they can ad
n ” r , e .and respect,” Kirkconnell
said. Its happening because the
networks realize today’s women
are more salable.
“As the sexes become more
equal, men and women find
themselves increasingly i n ac | vtr
sarial situations at Work and so™
Uy. TV is begining to reflect that
I he relationship between
Shelley Long and Ted Dansonin
‘Cheers’ is a good example. She
holds her own against him, and
then some, without losing her
feminity or sexuality.
“Rita, the role i pi™ j s ,
strong-minded woman. She is on
the verge of having a romance
with Hart (James Stephen) in the
series. She’s as bright or brighter
than he is. She s competitive, as
sertive and career-minded.
“The No. 1 priority in life isn't
a man. For her it’s an education
and a career. Her goals and va I
lues make her more interesting to [
men.
I
“Rita is no clinging vine. She's
ouick to recognize chauvinistic
slights, but she remains feminine
too. As the first female member
of the Law Review she is given a
hard time.
“I enjoy playing Rita because
while we’re not alike, we both
have a strong sense of self. On the
set I hear some of the men refer
to Rita as an ‘ice princess’or other
resentful little remarks about her
independence.”
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