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“I can't explain myself, because I'm not myself, you see.” This statement by Alice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll, /1994) captures the confusion of adolescent development. Moving from dependence to independence, growing physically, developing sexually, and struggling to know oneself and form intimate connections with others — these shifts characterize the turbulent and often troubling transition from childhood to adulthood.
Though the push toward independence is strong in adolescence, so is the desire to retreat from the demands of the world. Navigating a developmental path that balances the need for autonomy with the need for help and guidance is challenging for any young person — but it is especially challenging for those who lack adequate internal resources and external supports. Adolescents, and the clinicians who work with them, may find themselves asking the same question Alice asks: “Which way do I go?” The answer, as Alice learns from the Cheshire Cat, is not always clear: “That depends on where you want to get to.”
In deciding where to go in our work with adolescent patients, we are fortunate to have guidance from a wealth of experience generated by the Adolescent Department of the Tavistock Clinic. Facing It Out, edited by Adolescent Department Chair Robin Anderson and Clinical Services Chair Anna Dartington, encapsulates more than 40 years of work from distinguished clinicians in the department. The result is a wonderful collection of eleven essays, each detailing ways in which adolescents can get lost, stuck, or disturbed as they attempt to find their way through this bewildering stage of development.