PSYCHIC REALITY AND THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE ADOLESCENT

摘要

In keeping with the overall theme of the Congress, the special issues encountered in engaging the 'psychic reality' of adolescents were addressed. The Chairman provided a conceptual background, detailing the challenges posed to the analyst by the developmental circumstances of the adolescent—his fear of regression, his acute conflicts, over nascent (or resurgent) sexual/incestuous wishes; his defensive tendency to externalise and his primary focus on the external world and the living present, rather than the childhood past. He pointed out that all of these factors interfered with the analytic focus on the transference, generally considered today the sine qua non of analytic work. Adolescents, particularly younger ones, were threatened by both sexual and dependent feelings towards the analyst, and thus tended to distance themselves to a degree that led some analysts to consider analytic work with adolescents impossible.