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Addressing adolescent psychotherapy routinely confronts presenters with a complex task. Theories of adolescent development and treatment address phase-specific instances of broader models of motivation and change. Therefore, in any discussion of adolescence
one must refer to a preferred theory of normal development, its derailments, and an attendant theory of treatment and cure. The general theory is then applied to the particular biological and psychological challenges of adolescence, thereby determining the expected developmental shifts of this phase and their expected outcome. Furthermore, the particular theoretical application determines the handling of a number of technical matters that ordinarily accompany the treatment of adolescents. The management of family systems conflicts, the dual alliance with parents and the patient, making direct interventions in the patient's life, and addressing the various communications which adolescents so typically convey through behavior, including school problems, self-destructive acts involving sex and drugs, and suicidal ideation, are all influenced by the particular theoretical lens through which these phenomena are viewed.
As the title suggests, Psychotherapy, Adolescents, and Self-Psychology attempts to address all of these matters—and more. Using the literary device of a conversation, Lage and Nathan (a pseudonym of the treating adolescent psychiatrist) have translated a series of their workshops into a book. Each chapter begins with the notes from one or more sessions from the psychotherapy of a late adolescent boy. As one expects in an extended clinical case conference, the therapist's notes provide the springboard for elaborating a number of theoretical and technical issues. The authors state that their primary goal is to elaborate the position that a self psychological point of view adds dimension to understanding and intervening with adolescents that is not available from classical psychoanalytic theory alone. Thi