The author discusses the normal increase in self-absorption and "self-consciousness" essential to the consolidation in healthy adolescents of a stable sense of identity. He

then contrasts this with the disturbance seen in adolescents and young adults with narcissistic personality disorder. Using clinical examples, he presents the contrasting therapeutic approaches of Kernberg and Kohut, suggesting that the techniques employed by both can be useful in the treatment of individual patients. He concludes that it may be more crucial in the treatment of adolescents and young adults to focus on the therapeutic alliance than on the psychodynamics which produced the difficulty.