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By applying the general principles of psychoanalytic technique to the problems of analyzing the adolescent, and more specifically to analyzing the adolescent patient using psychedelic drugs, Dr. Esman again brings into focus the stressful situation for the therapist in any circumstance where not only his own value system is alien to the patient's behavior, but also where the patient's acting out may be self-destructive. The three cases he cites would seem to imply that unless the patient's observing ego or his superego has maintained a therapeutic alliance with the therapist, subtle or direct prohibition of any type of behavior will be ineffective.
I have not had wide experience with the young people utilizing any of these drugs. It has been my impression, based on those I have seen. those I have learned about from their friends, and from my reading, that the adolescent group is telling us something about the forest—and that we may not hear because we are examining a tree.
In the past, certain groups of adolescents of any generation—and probably, on the whole, the groups which on attaining adulthood had relatively the most impact on the culture by bringing about social and political changes—had “psychedelic” experiences without drugs. Painting, music, and verbal orgastic discussions provided a dreamworld into which they could escape from reality.
A patient indirectly brought this phenomenon to my attention. She could look at her face in the mirror and become lost in a fantasy world. A colorful sunset was as effective. She tried marijuana and described her feeling of elation, of freedom from mundane worries and demands, and of closeness to her friends.
As one of a group of high school students, she was reported by the school to the juvenile authorities for the possession of marijuana. I was told that the authorities were trying to find the supplier and that the young people would not have to appear in court if the “pot” proved not to be marijuana. As suspected, it proved