Crisis at Adolescence

This book is about work with adolescents and their families. It is based on a particular psychoanalytic understanding of the way people function and grow and on the development of a corresponding family therapy model. It includes throughout detailed examples to illustrate the interactions between therapists and family members together with the concepts used to understand and work with them. This volume presents an approach therapists can learn in order to make the most of their capacity to be in touch with their own and others' feelings as a major tool in the therapeutic work with families. Adolescence is viewed as epitomizing a transitional time when hard-won patterns of stability in the family - individually and as a group - are liable to break down. Hitherto denied and split-off feelings threaten to erupt and may cause disturbing changes of attitude and behavior.