You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Adolescence is a period of life that seems to stir controversy naturally. Maybe this stems from memories of or identification with the uncertainties and rebelliousness that are so common for this developmental phase, but controversy and divisiveness there usually are. Some of the more obvious examples center on whether or not emotional turmoil is ubiquitous during adolescence, whether or not psychoanalysis is possible or useful during adolescence, and whether the training for the treatment for adolescents is best linked with the treatment of children, of adults, or should be considered a unique subspecialty. Because these debates have been going on so long and are usually counterproductive, it is with hopeful anticipation that one approaches a volume that promises to provide a unifying overview to the area of the psychiatric treatment of adolescents. This anticipation is especially high when the book is edited by an authority of the stature of Dr. Esman, a psychoanalyst who has had a long and successful career working with this age group.
Since this review is prepared for psychoanalysts, it will adhere to that particular perspective. I make this explicit at the beginning because I do not believe that the book was written primarily for a psychoanalytic audience, but for therapists who have some knowledge of psychoanalytic theory.
The 16 chapters are divided into sections devoted to the therapeutic approaches of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, residential treatment, family therapy, group therapy, behavior therapy, and psychopharmacology, and a final section consists of three chapters summarizing respectively the individual, family, and behavior therapy approaches to anorexia nervosa. In the Introduction, Esman states he has "sought to present as fairly as possible a variety of points of view and theoretical perspectives" (p. xiii). As the book's title makes clear, however, this is a compilation of papers on the psychiatric, not psychoanalytic, tr