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This ambitious and extremely well-structured book proposes an integrative conceptual model under the aegis of what the author names a “regulation theory.” In this work we find an example of the value of contemporary developmental psychoanalytic thinking, one that is flexible, integrative, and builds on both the contributions of past and current pioneers in the field. Bendicsen takes on the challenge of conceptualizing the developmental transition from adolescence to young adulthood by revisiting classical conceptualizations of adolescence and the evolving self under the light of clinical and conceptual findings in the fields of attachment, self psychology, neurobiology, and relational psychoanalysis, among others. Departing from a rigorously built theoretical framework, the author explores the diverse developmental pathways resulting from the interactional dynamics operating in the young person's internal and external realities.
The structure of this book makes a very strong case for the importance of building from a clear and strong theoretical framework, allowing for the elaboration of a clinical hypothesis that both guides and holds the therapeutic dyad and sheds light on the meaning of the therapeutic action. By starting with an exhaustive review of the existing literature and ending with the incorporation and application of the conceptual hypothesis to the clinical reality, this book is as much a prototype for critical thinking and understanding as it is a medium for the slow development of the case for the concept of the transformational self.
In parallel with the developmental phase that it seeks to explore, this book challenges the reader with a complex description of the conceptual basis from which this author's theoretical explorations arise. It is not welcoming to all readers, as it requires a certain level of theoretical knowledge and sophistication. However, the book promptly turns to the task of educating and organizing the reader's thinking by introduci