Adolescent Psychiatry. Volume I, Developmental and Clinical Studies: Edited by Sherman C. Feinstein, Peter L. Giovacchini, and Arthur A. Miller. New York: Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1971. 552 pp.

The reasons for an increasing interest in adolescence as a developmental phase are expressed succinctly in the preface to this book, a volume sponsored by the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry: 'As a clinical challenge adolescence demands the utilization of specialized techniques… As a period of life adolescence may be of great importance in the general understanding of development and psychopathology. Beyond the individual, adolescence is also a social phenomenon. The adolescent needs to be understood for his influence on values and social institutions.' What emerges is a series of articles written by professionals whose knowledge is firmly based on experience.

The volume is divided into five sections: General Considerations, Developmental Stages in Adolescence, Effects of Early Object Relations on Adolescent Character Structure, Training in Adolescent Psychiatry, and Psychotherapy of Adolescence. Each section begins with an introduction that gives a brief summary of the papers and an overview of the thinking that went into the formation of the section. These vignettes have more than introductory value—they also spell out the specific nature of the problems of adolescence. Adolescent Psychiatry is not a textbook, but a good sampling of work being done in the field. Hence the reader will find exploratory, thought-provoking literature which stimulates the formation of new ideas.

The opening chapter, an essay by Peter Blos, The Generation Gap: Fact and Fiction, sets the theme for the volume. By clarifying the difference in the function and size of the generational conflict in a given individual—distancing as opposed to individuation and differentiation—he demonstrates the need to relate existing knowledge of the psychology of the adolescent to his social behavior. Blos separates fact from fiction, serious investigation from idle speculation.

The rest of the volume presents a wide range of theoretical and clinical points of view on such subjects as d