Loners

Some children seem different, detached, disinterested in the games of other children. They prefer their hobbies to friends of their own age and if forced into community activities, as they often are at school, can become aggressive and difficult. In Loners, Sula Wolff describes a childhood personality syndrome that has frequently been neglected. Often using children's own words, their lives and problems become real as she unwraps their stories from first referral to adulthood. Some have become talented and successful adults, whilst others are less fortunate in later years. Carefully documented and meticulously researched, this study makes compelling reading.

Sula Wolff is Honorary Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Children under Stress (1968; 2nd edn 1981) and Childhood and Human Nature: The Development of Personality (1989).

List of illustrations -- Foreword Leon Eisenberg -- Acknowledgements -- Author's note -- Introduction -- 1. Early observations -- 2. In search of a diagnostic label -- 3. A closer look at the childhood picture -- 4. The personality of loners in later life -- 5. The later life adjustment of schizoid boys -- 6. Schizoid girls in childhood and later life -- 7. What is the risk of later psychiatric disorder? -- 8. Is there a link with antisocial conduct? -- 9. Intellectual interests and giftedness -- 10. How can we best understand the condition? -- 11. How can we intervene most helpfully? -- 12. Schizoid personality, pretence and genius: two extraordinary people -- Appendix -- References -- Name index -- Subject index.