Psychiatric consultation in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur

Psychiatric consultation in schools is not a new concept in the Western Countries but it is so in Malaysia owing to the lack ofa sufficient number of trained psychiatrists available locally. The aim of consultation is to help the school authorities to understand and to solve emotional and behaviourial problems of school children. The authors have begun a study project, on a voluntary basis, on the psychiatric problems of the school children of a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur. This was possible with the cooperation between the Department of Education, Kuala Lumpur, the Department of Social Welfare, Federal Territory and the Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. The authors used two methods to gather data, namely through individual evaluation of the referred students (a total of 23 students having been interviewed) and through the holding of group therapy sessions with the consultee as the cotherapist. The authors found that minor behaviourial problems such as inattentiveness, talking, eating and sleeping in the classrooms constituted the majority of the reasons for referral. This was followed by problems concerned with poor academic performance, including the quality of class work. Major problems such as theft, extortion and gangsterism and personal emotional problems such as interpersonal relationship problems, boyfriend/girfriend problems and sexual problems were also encountered. Female pupils appeared to be more forthcoming in discussing their problems. The project has resulted in the school gradually adopting the guidance rather than the purely disclplinary concept in understanding the pupils' problems and their maladjustment behaviour in many cases. Joint efforts by psychiatrists, psychologists, professional social workers and school health personnel should be invested in this important area of school education.