A survey of encopresis

Broadly defined, encopresis is the voluntary or involuntary passage of feces that results in the soiling of clothes in children who are older than the maximum acceptable age for toilet training(!). This paper will attempt to cover the etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of encopresis as seen by pediatrics, psychoanalysis, and behaviorism. A review of the history of this disorder will prove useful in understanding it better.