In this article the author, Jungian analyst and Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University Joy Schaverien, suggests that there is a cluster of symptoms and behaviours common in adults presenting for psychotherapy who had been sent to boarding school at an early age. She suggests that together these symptoms could be called Boarding School Syndrome.
Schaverien notes that children sent away to boarding school are, in some respects, in a similar position to those placed in foster care by Social Services, in that both groups are “looked after children”. Whereas children in care often come from economically deprived backgrounds where there is little alternative, in the case of children sent to boarding school, their parents have chosen to send them there and, in many cases, made considerable sacrifices to do so. Nevertheless, in both cases, the child is effectively fostered by strangers and in institutional care. Whilst the potential effects of being fostered are widely acknowledged, there seems a reluctance to acknowledge the effects on some children of the “socially condoned early rupture with home” of being sent to boarding school. One effect on the child is that, rather than growing up in an environment where the ‘good enough’ family adapts with the child as they grow, in a boarding school environment (and any other institution) the child has to adapt to an inflexible system, where what works for the system needs to take priority. There is less scope for accommodating the child’s emotional needs.
The author suggests that whilst for some children being sent to boarding school was preferable to neglect or abuse at home, for others it was a traumatic event, even in cases where the child appears on some measures to have flourished. Where boarding school children are concerned, appearances can be deceptive, as these children usually present as self-confident, whereas in fact, their self-sufficiency masks defence structures that conceal from themselves and others the reality of their experience.
Schaverien reports that many ex-boarders suffer from depression, difficulties with intimacy, an inability to talk about feelings, have a history of broken relationships, experience work-related problems, display subtle (or not so subtle) forms of self-harm and complain of various physical symptoms. In the therapeutic situation they may end the process abruptly or seek to avoid talking about their experiences altogether. The fact that a person has been to boarding school is rarely presented as a problem, as the traumatic nature of the experience often remains unconscious. As an adult, the ex-boarder may simply feel themselves to be troubled, without understanding why.
When children are sent away at an early age there is a sudden and irrevocable loss of primary attachments, which can cause enduring developmental damage. If, in addition, the child experiences bullying or abuse, the new attachment figures are experienced as unsafe, which serves only to compound the situation psychologically. Schaverien also notes that at boarding school there is greater exposure to the often sadistic impulses of other children. For children who board, their awareness that boarding school is considered to be a privilege and of the sacrifices made by their parents may have the consequence that when the child feels distressed, they assume there is something wrong with them for feeling that way, and so conceal their true feelings from their parents and others. A defensive and protective encapsulation of the Self arises, with the effect that the true identity of the person remains hidden, perhaps for ever.
Schaverien hopes that by identifying a pattern of behaviours and symptoms that may be defined as Boarding School Syndrome more research into the subject may now be carried out, leading to a deeper understanding of the psychological impact of early boarding on some children.
Schaverien’s article was published by the British Journal of Psychotherapy and may be read in full at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-0118.2011.01229.x/full
