ABSTRACT

Internalizing disorders in childhood and adolescence include the anxiety and aff ective disorders. As such, they consist of problems related to worry, fear, shyness, low self-esteem, sadness, and depression. Th ese “emotional” problems have frequently been found to be interrelated in clinical settings and to be associated statistically with one another in factor analytic studies. Internalizing problems can be contrasted with externalizing problems-problems frequently associated with inattention, bad conduct, and opposition and defi ance (see chapter 16). It is of historic interest to note that these two broad dimensions of childhood and adolescent problems have been recognized for some time. Karen Horney (1945), for example, spoke of children who “move against the world” (i.e., externalizing disorder children) and those who “move away from the world” (i.e., internalizing disorder children).