Published 1 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2818
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2818

News

Report sparks controversy over cause of children’s psychiatric symptoms

Karen McColl

1 Savoie, France

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A new report from Save the Children and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm has reignited debate in Sweden over whether several hundred children of asylum seekers had a psychiatric syndrome or whether their parents were fabricating or exaggerating their symptoms to win the right to stay in the country.

Children with what is known as pervasive refusal syndrome—dubbed "apathetic children" by the Swedish media—withdraw from all contact and have severe loss of function, becoming unable to walk, talk, eat, or drink. In the most severe cases children become incontinent and require feeding by tube.

Between 2003 and 2005 424 cases were recorded. Most of the children come from central Asian republics or from Balkan countries. Many belong to the Uighur ethnic group, which is said to be coming under increasing harassment and discrimination in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

In the Swedish medical community opinions are polarised. One . . . [Full text of this article]


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