ABSTRACT
Internalizing disorders in childhood and adolescence include the anxiety and affective disorders. As such, they consist of problems related to worry, fear, shyness, low selfesteem, sadness, and depression. These 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 defiance (see chapter 15). 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).
