What is a "shadow syndrome"?

Answer 1

I think that refers to a mental disorder that is very mild or doesn't have all of the expected symptoms. That is, somebody might have a mental disorder but it's not always obvious.

The term "shadow syndrome" is not used in the DSM-IV (the main source book of psychiatric disorders); apparently a psychiatrist had a theory about this and wrote a book about it.

Answer 2

Shadow Syndromes

Answer 3

“A person with shadow syndrome might have three or four symptoms of a recognized disorder that was usually defined by 10 or so symptoms. That person may have serious difficulties meeting life s challenges but never know why. More often than not, his clinical experience has shown, such people blame themselves for their social, academic and professional failures,” said John Ratey, executive director of research at Medfield State Hospital in Massachusetts and affiliated with Harvard Medical School (In a review by Jane Brody of Ratey’s and Johnson’s book “The Shadow Syndromes” - "Quirks and Oddities May Be Mild Forms of Psychiatric Illness" as published in the New York Times Science Page, February 4, 1997)

Answer 4

The problem is, every patient is different--including every patient with the same diagnosis. As a result, the number of syndromes recognized by practicing psychiatrists has leapt in the forty years since the first edition of the DSM appeared in 1952. That volume described 60 categories of abnormal behavior. DSM-II, published in 1968, more than doubled this number to 145 syndromes, and DSM-III raised the total to 230. The DSM-IV, which appeared in 1994, lists 382 distinct diagnoses, plus an additional 28 floating, or unassigned, diagnoses--which brings us today to a total of 410 different possible diagnostic labels. What the ever-increasing number of possible diagnoses means is that a person who comes into a psychiatrist's office complaining of being depressed, for example, could be categorized as belonging to one of four major categories--bipolar disorder, major depression, "other specific affective disorders," or "atypical affective disorder"--with several subcategories included within each of these main categories. (A patient diagnosed as bipolar could then be further characterized as "mixed," "manic," or "depressed," for instance.) It is a complex business.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is a "shadow syndrome"?

Answer 6

Isn't that when u c the 'shadow people' after being up 2 long?

Answer 7

Shadow Children focuses on America's at-risk youth, a topic that is of great importance to the future of this country. The purpose of the book is to help readers understand and address the issue of at-risk students in the United States. Dallman-Jones first describes the problem by explaining the term "Shadow Children" and estimating the financial costs being incurred as a result of this phenomenon. Next, he explains how Shadow Children come into being. He then goes on to talk about the problems Shadow Children experience and how these are manifested in school environments. Lastly, Dr. Dallman-Jones discusses prevention and intervention approaches.

Dallman-Jones defines Shadow Children as children who are "at-risk of dropping out of school"or "at-risk of not succeeding in life because of being raised in unfavorable circumstances"(p. 2). Throughout the book, this definition is explicated by detailing examples of "unfavorable circumstances"such as family dysfunction and forms of abuse and neglect. However, I don't feel the author ever answers the question, "Who are the Shadow Children?" The classifications of dysfunction, abuse, and neglect provided are so broad that the author indicates all families exhibit some degree of dysfunction and all adults have inflicted some degree of abuse or neglect on others. For example, failure to provide structure or set limits and sarcasm are listed as instances of emotional neglect. Responding inconsistently or arbitrarily, breaking promises, and not taking a child's thoughts seriously are listed as examples of mental abuse. In addition, several statistics are presented in the book and some of them further obscure the image of Shadow Children. For example, Dallman-Jones states that "only 30 percent of families have a biological parent working at home and the other in a career outside the home"(p. 56). He never explains how this statistic helps to frame the Shadow Children Syndrome. Dallman-Jones also states that the percentage of non-Hispanic White school children is declining while the percentages of African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander school children are increasing. He does not explain how these trends relate to Shadow Children. By the end of the book, I no longer had a clear definition of Shadow Children.

In this book, Dallman-Jones emphasizes the importance of the Shadow Children phenomenon by examining its reach and the impact of this population on society. However, for practioners in the field—educators, psychologists, social workers, etc.—there are very few recommendations on how to deal with the issue. The cases and statistics in this book paint a bleak picture and then they stop. In fact, it gets to the point that the reader may become overwhelmed and begin to think the issue is insurmountable. The prevention and intervention "strategies" are too numerous and too general to be actionable. Dallman-Jones provides several bulleted lists of at-risk program guidelines. He presents a list of general considerations, two lists of what not to do, "nine facets of quality at-risk programs" (p. 106) developed by his organization, and a list and definitions of "15 characteristics of effective programming for youth" (p.109). Dallman-Jones expresses little faith in educational systems, stating that "nothing is ever resolved" (p. 75) in schools. Yet, he suggests that existing institutions can use the lists of guidelines in this book to create effective programs for at-risk youth. I believe more explicit recommendations or exemplars for dealing with the Shadow Children Syndrome are needed.

The major contribution of this book is that it brings awareness to people who have no experience with at-risk children. Towards the beginning of the book, Dallman-Jones writes three brief vignettes of children who were victimized by abuse and/or neglect. Each story paints a vivid and heart-wrenching story of a real life Shadow Child. They all have tragic ends; the stories almost scream, "This is what happens when you sit idly by!" It may motivate people to work with at-risk populations. In the appendices are lists of organizations that work with at-risk youth and institutions of higher education that have courses of study in at-risk education.

If you don't know some of the social issues faced by America's youth, you should read this book. However, if you are in the midst of the struggle, you probably won't learn anything new. I'm not sure whether Dallman-Jones' intended audience is policymakers, educators, social service providers, or the general public and at times I think it is all of these. Shadow Children is not clearly focused on what needs to be done or examples of what is being done. It presents lots of checklists, guidelines, and statistics, but no hard evidence that any of the author's suggestions can address or are addressing "education's #1 problem."
Reviewed by Jana L Parker, George Mason University.