STUDY OF CRANIOPHARYNGIOMA IN THE CHILD . 2. CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL-EXAMINATION TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF PSYCHIC FUNCTIONING BEFORE AND SURGICAL ABLATION

The results of this preliminary study come from the psychological exam inations of six children from four and a half to fifteen years of age, before and after the ablation of a craniopharyngioma. The examination s, carried out and interpreted according to the psychoanalytical clini cal approach, include a test of intellectual ability and at least two complementary projective tests. The important element to be noted is t hat the effects of the tumor itself are not very obvious and vary from one subject to the next. On the other hand, surgical ablation of the craniopharyngioma produces a profound psychic change in all of the chi ldren which affects the thinking process and all of their relational, social, representational and affective life. Because of the importance of this effect and independant of their psychic organisation before t he intervention we must think about such factors as might help in the process of reconstruction and about work in liaison with teams of chil d psychiatrists which should be implemented as a prophylactic measure at the very beginning of medical treatment.