ABSTRACT
There is a general assumption that a "scientific" approach to the evaluation of treatments for children is needed. This may be a useful idea, but only if the concept of science is relatively straightforward and is used uniformly within the field. The findings were quite different depending on whether account was taken of a childhood history of maltreatment. Adults who had first been depressed before the age of 16 came from families with multiple adversities, and as children they had increased hyperactivity and disruptive behaviour problems and peer relationship difficulties. In most instances, with perhaps the exception of the radical behaviourists and the reductionist psychophysiologists, the scientists took a predominantly Egyptian stance. The key to the science of psychopathology was thought to be classification. Meanwhile, standing firmly in the Greek tradition, the analysts pursued the holy grail of a unifying theory of psychopathology.
