[Child psychiatry aspects of enuresis nocturna].

Nocturnal enuresis is associated with emotional suffering. Psychoanalytic claims of a psychogenic aetiology are not tenable. The rate of behavioural disorders is significantly higher among wetting children, especially among day wetters and secondary nocturnal enuretics. Still, most wetting children are not psychiatrically disturbed. A symptom-oriented therapy with an alarm can raise the self-concept and feelings of self-worth. Play-therapies are indicated only when emotional disorders co-exist. A case of a sandplay therapy is presented, which demonstrates that in addition to empirical methodology, a hermeneutic approach is needed to understand the child's subjective experience and meaning.