Chronic neurotic encopresis (CNE), a childhood psychiatric disorder characterized by inappropriate fecal soiling, necessitates the formation of the following specific etiological factors: a) a neurologically immature developmental musculature, an organic condition which may complicate toilet training; b) premature or harsh toilet training; c) a family constellation in which the father is frequently absent and the mother erratic, emotionally inappropriate, and distant; d) the child's formation of a noncommunicative, passive, dependent personality. All of these factors are helpful in explaining the occurrence of CNE, which is thus seen as the result of a synergistic interaction among them. The complexity of etiological agents dictates a multifactorial rather than unicausal model of mental illness. Future research and tactics of psychother-apeutic intervention should focus on the interplay among these factors rather than attempting to single out one primary predisposing factor.