Systemic approach to poor school results: from diagnostics to psychotherapy

Poor school results and abandoned studies are quite an often reason for a visit to a psychiatrist. The systemic model of diagnostics makes it possible to consider the symptoms at different levels (social, family, individual) and to make a tentative hypothesis for each level. The choice of a tentative hypothesis guides the algorithm of support and points out the tasks for allied specialists. The case study illustrates the opportunities of system model of diagnostics in practice. We suggest to use systemic family therapy as specialized psychotherapeutic aid. Mental disorders in children and adolescents as well as poor school results in particular are often linked to the way the families function (family system). On the other hand, the illness of a child affects the family and leads to secondary changes in the system, resulting in a «vicious circle». Moreover, when the child is discharged from the hospital it leads to