1 Division of Child Psychiatry, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
THE Aldrich Award Address by Dr. Julius Richmond in this issue requires careful reading. Within its sober, low-keyed assessment of the state of developmental research in pediatrics is a perceptive critique of the present and an exciting preview of a possible future. Writing as a pediatrician, Dr. Richmond chides, but only gently, my psychiatric colleagues and indicates, but only modestly, the potential contribution of pediatrics. As a child psychiatrist not under (or at least not admitting to) such restraints, I feel freer to comment on certain aspects of the relationship between the two specialties.
Child psychiatrists cite the importance of knowledge of child development for fully effective pediatric practice, bemoan the grossly inadequate training in medical psychology presently afforded pediatric house officers, had decry the unsympathetic reception they have receive from pediatrics faculties when they have ample justification.