The Young Adolescent: Clinical Studies: By Peter Blos. New York: The Free Press, 1970, xxiii + 252 pages, $8.95.

Peter Blos's many contributions to the psychoanalytic literature on child development have been soundly reasoned and well grounded in clinical material. In this monograph, the clinical material, derived from the supervised psychotherapy of two young adolescents and their parents, is used to highlight a detailed discussion of developmental theory as it has been advanced in Blos's earlier works, to add certain perspectives on the role of aggression and to set forth some principles of psychotherapy. The clinical material has been integrated with theory. The extensive presentation of clinical material is in itself a significant contribution, especially insofar as knowledge of the first stage of adolescence has been limited both by difficulties in recall during adult analyses and by the problems inherent in treating these youngsters. Of the many issues Blos raises, this review will touch on only a few: What contributes to the forward movement in therapy? What factors are related to regression in preadolescence? How do problems related to narcissism and depression begin to crystallize during this phase of development?

In recent discussions of the therapeutic process, an increased emphasis has been placed upon the role of the ego in regulating the emergence of new material in the therapeutic situation. Blos uses the case of Susan to illustrate how the increased capacity of the ego to cope with emerging material permits the patient to actively bring this material into the therapeutic situation where she can master it and thus overcome serious impediments in the way of her development. The therapist's task is often one of deciding whether to interpret a resistance or to wait out the child's internal progress and thrust forward. He must keep in mind that periods of apparent standstill may not call for active interpretation of resistance, since the situation may be one of ego consolidation. Susan's