University of Virginia Library

Generation Gap Shrinking

While theories abound about a
growing generation gap, a child
psychiatrist at the University says
that it may be decreasing because
of franker interaction between the
young and not-so-young.

"I don't agree that this
generation of young people as a
whole is more disturbed than the
previous ones. Many of our views
have changes because of increased
knowledge about being a teen-ager
and about the whole process. We
study them more, and there is
better knowledge about what they
go through much better than
when we used to be told, 'youth is
bliss." ' says Ake Mattsson.

Dr. Mattsson has joined the
University School of Medicine as
professor of psychiatry and
pediatrics. He also is directing the
psychiatry department's Child and
Adolescent Services, an out-patient
clinic for the children with
emotional and academic problems.

The increased knowledge about
youth 'has made it "possible for
them to communicate their hopes
and frustrations to us. I don't think
we would have today's campus
problems as gruesome as they are
at times unless the youth felt a
larger segment of the older
generation (those over 25) is at
least listening." says Dr. Mattsson.

A native of Sweden where he
got his M.D. degree from the
Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
Dr. Mattsson doesn't limit the
current youth problems to the
United States either: these things
are going on all over the world, he
reminds.

In the young, (41), blond-haired
doctor's experience. "The most
common complaint of the young
people a psychiatrist sees for
mental health purposes is that of a
breakdown in communications
between parents and children -
usually one that goes back at least
to early adolescence."

This is why Dr. Mattsson,
himself the father of three young
sons, urges parents to "make an
effort to be there to talk, spend a
little extra time taking the initiative
to listen, just be around."

A graduate of the Cleveland
Psychoanalytic Institute, founded
by the noted psychiatrist Douglas
Bond, Dr. Mattsson also studies
under Benjamin Spock at Case
Western Reserve University and
calls him "one of the most
stimulating mentors of my life. I
was especially impressed by his
comprehensive global interest in the
child and his family, and he was a
damed good pediatrician."

Before coming to the Medical
Center this fall, Dr. Mattsson was
director of outpatient services in
the child psychiatric clinic at
University Hospitals in Cleveland
where he also has been a training
director in the division of child
psychiatry and assistant physician.

"When people do research and
question others and themselves,
wondering if this is the best way,
then you have the essential climate
for weeding out what has become
defunct and what is still
applicable," he stresses.

According To Ake Mattsson, The Generation Gap Is Small

However, Any Break In Communication May Cause A Child Mental Harm