The Anatomy of Adolescent Violence

With the concern about school shootings and gangs, there has been much written and said recently about violence in adolescence. The prime question, of course, has been what causes it. In my view, there has been, unfortunately, far too much attention paid to the effects of films, video games, and other media influences on adolescent behavior. As a corollary to this, strong moral education has been seen as the source of good behavior. Just teach kids what's right firmly enough, and that will make them good. It repeatedly comes as a surprise to many that adolescents from good homes with good parents could become mass murderers. A psychoanalytic approach to understanding violence in adolescence can be helpful in understanding often neglected intrapsychic sources of violence in adolescence.

What special perspectives can a psychoanalytic view bring to the problem? There are several. First, as an approach that emphasizes the study of the individual case, a psychoanalytic view avoids a pitfall of other approaches: the fallacy that a particular behavior, in this case violence, has one source, the same source, in all violent people. This assumption of a single underlying source of an overt problem is a fallacy I have seen in the study of several areas of psychopathology. It sounds simple, but let me emphasize this point: there are many intrapsychic stories that may result in violent activity.

What are other unique perspectives that a psychoanalytic approach can bring to this problem? The role of the unconscious is one. The role of fantasy, both unconscious and conscious, is another. The psychology of conflict and the psychology of self-image are also central. The role of childhood, and especially early childhood, psychoanalysis considers basic to later development. Some more recent advances in the theory of affects are also very helpful in our effort. This all goes beyond simplistic efforts to search for external factors, often immediate or current ones, as the cause for violen