Mental Deficiency as a Basic Discipline in the Training of a Psychiatrist

The field of mental deficiency is one with which the psychiatrist is not always familiar. By the time he has obtained his training in the psychoses and neuroses, explored psychosomatic medicine, and spread his wings towards the horizon of social psychiatry, too often the opportunity is neglected to gain a full experience in this particular field. Mental deficiency has been described as the Cinderella of psychiatry. The simile is apt, not merely in the opening scene, but also in the denouement, as is soon apparent