Pervasive refusal syndrome (PRS) 21 years on: A re-conceptualisation and a renaming

European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 2014, Pages 163-172

  Nunn, Kenneth P ^a,b   Lask, Bryan ^c,d   Owen, Isabel ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

^b CHILDREN S HOSPITAL AT WESTMEAD   (Australia)

^c CARE International UK   (United Kingdom)

^d GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Asylum seeking children; Depressive devitalisation; Malignant countercalming; Pervasive arousal withdrawal syndrome (PAWS); Pervasive refusal syndrome (PRS)

Indexed keywords

ANXIETY DISORDER; ARTICLE; CATATONIA; CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME; CONVERSION DISORDER; DAILY LIFE ACTIVITY; DEPRESSION; DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS; EATING DISORDER; FACTITIOUS DISEASE; HELPLESSNESS; HOPELESSNESS; HUMAN; INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES; MENTAL DISEASE; PERVASIVE REFUSAL SYNDROME; POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER; PSYCHOSOCIAL WITHDRAWAL; SELECTIVE MUTISM; SEXUAL ABUSE;

CATATONIA; CHILD; CHILD BEHAVIOR DISORDERS; CHILD DEVELOPMENT DISORDERS, PERVASIVE; DEPRESSIVE DISORDER; FEEDING AND EATING DISORDERS OF CHILDHOOD; HELPLESSNESS, LEARNED; HUMANS; PERSONALITY; REFUGEES; SOCIAL ALIENATION; STRESS DISORDERS, POST-TRAUMATIC; SYNDROME;

EID: 84897080164     PISSN: 10188827     EISSN: 1435165X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00787-013-0433-7     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Lask B, Britten C, Kroll L, Magagna J, Tranter M (1991) Children with pervasive refusal. Arch Dis Child 66:866-869
2. Nunn KP, Thompson SL (1996) The pervasive refusal syndrome: learned helplessness and hopelessness. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 1:121-132 (Pubitemid 126737540)
3. Von Folsach LL, Montgomery E (2006) Pervasive refusal syndrome among asylum-seeking children. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 11:457-473 (Pubitemid 44086698)
4. Jaspers T, Hanssen GM, van der Valk JA, Hanekom JH, van Well GT, Schieveld JN (2009) Pervasive refusal syndrome as part of the refusal-withdrawal-regression spectrum: critical review of the literature illustrated by a case report. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 18(11):645-651
5. Fink M, Klein DF (1995) An ethical dilemma in child psychiatry. Psychiatry Bull 19:650-651
6. Taylor S, Dossetor DR, Kilham H, Bernard E (2000) The youngest case of pervasive refusal syndrome? Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 5:23-29 (Pubitemid 30070439)
7. Thompson SL, Nunn KP (1997) The pervasive refusal syndrome: the RAHC experience. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 2:145-165 (Pubitemid 27163430)
8. Germain M (1994). Refusal in childhood. A dissertation submitted for part II of the entrance examination for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. In Nunn and Thomson (1996)
9. Lask B (2004) Pervasive refusal syndrome. Adv Psychiatry Treat 10:153-159
10. Bodegard G (2005) Life-threatening loss of function in refugee children: another expression of pervasive refusal syndrome? Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 10:337-350
11. Kiser LA, Ackerman BJ, Brown E (1988) Post-traumatic stress disorder in young children: a reaction to purported sexual abuse. Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 27:645-649
12. McGowan R, Green J (1998) Pervasive refusal syndrome: a less severe variant with defined aetiology. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 3:583-590 (Pubitemid 28484075)
13. Overmeier JB, Leaf RC (1965) Effects of discriminative Pavlovian fear conditioning upon previously or subsequently acquired avoidance responding. J Comp Physiol Psychol 60(2):213-217 In Nunn and Thomson (1996)
14. Abramson LY, Seligman MEP, Teasdale JD (1978) Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. J Abnorm Psychol 87:49-74 In Nunn and Thomson (1996)
15. Nunn KP (2005) Pervasive refusal syndrome - concepts, causes and differential diagnosis. Paper given at: pervasive refusal syndrome conference; the royal college of physicians, London
16. Magagna J (2004) 'I didn't want to die, but I had to': the pervasive refusal syndrome. In: Williams G, Williams P, Desmarais J, Ravenscroft K (eds) Exploring eating disorders in adolescents: the generosity of acceptance. Karnac Books, London, pp 107-138
17. Cytryn L, McKnew DH (1996) Growing up sad: childhood depression and its treatment. Norton, New York
18. Eriksson T (2006) Debate and letters. Läkartidningen 103:856-857
19. Montgomery E, Krogh Y, Jacobsen A, Lukman B (1992) Children of torture, victims' reactions and coping. Child Abus Negl 16:797-805 In von Folsach et al. (2006)
20. Lindberg T, Sundelin C (2005) Apatiska barn - var står vetenskapen idag? Läkartidningen 102:1338-1345 (Pubitemid 40803938)
21. Nunn KP (2007). Pervasive refusal and withdrawal - a neurobiological formulation. Paper given at: Conference on Depressive Devitalisation; the Nordic Centre for Public Health, Goteborg
22. Arronson B, Wiberg C, Sandstedt P, Hjern A (2009) Asylum-seeking children with severe loss of activities of daily living: clinical signs and course during rehabilitation. Acta Paediatr 98(12):1977-1981
23. Schmale AH Jr, Engel GL (1967) The giving up-given up complex illustrated on film. Arch Gen Psychiatry 17:135-145
24. Nunn KP, Frampton I, Gordon I, Lask B (2008) The fault is not in her parents but in her insula - a neurobiological hypothesis of anorexia nervosa. Eur Eat Disord Rev 16:355-360
25. Nunn KP, Frampton I, Fuglset TS, Törzsök-Sonnevend M, Lask B (2011) Anorexia nervosa and the insula. Med Hypotheses 76(3):353-357
26. Nunn KP, Lask B and Frampton I (2011). Towards a Comprehensive, Causal and Explanatory Neuroscience Model of Anorexia Nervosa. In: (eds Lask B and Frampton I) Eating Disorders and the Brain, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK
27. Nunn KP, Frampton I, Lask B (2012) Anorexia nervosa - a noradrenergic dysregulation hypothesis. Med Hypotheses 78:580-584
28. LeDoux J (1996) The emotional brain: the mysterious under-pinnings of emotional life. Simon and Schuster, New York
29. Mesulam M (2000) Principles of behavioural and cognitive neurology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
30. Selye H (1955) Stress and disease. Science 122:625-631
31. Sapolsky RM, Romero LM, Munck AU (2000) How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? Integrating permissive, suppressive, stimulatory, and preparative actions. Endocr Rev 21:55-89 (Pubitemid 32266068)
32. Porges SW (2011) The polyvagal theory: neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. Norton, New York
33. Lenard Z, Studinger P, Mersich B, Kocsis L, Kollai M (2004) Maturation of cardiovagal autonomic function from childhood to young adult age. Circulation 110:2307-2312 (Pubitemid 39407331)
34. Iversen LL, Iversen SD, Bloom FE, Roth RH (2009) Introduction to neuropsychopharmacology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
35. Insel T, Cuthbert B, Garvey M, Heinssen R, Pine DS, Quinn K, Sanislow CA, Wang PW (2010) Research domain criteria (RDoC): developing a valid diagnostic framework for research on mental disorders. Am J Psychiatr 167(7):748-751