Author's Response

We have approached a vastly complex problem in our studies, for adolescence is not simple, nor is it a pathological state. We

have concentrated on the “psychopathic” aspect of the whole picture of adolescence because, in our experience, there is a tendency in adolescence to resort to psychopathic mechanisms. We are still involved in the study of adolescence, and are delving further into psychotic aspects of personality, handling and conceptualization of temporality, the importance of certain aspects of behavior in relation to early genitality, the link with, and role of, the parents.

Our answers are addressed to the discussants individually, although, of course, some of our comments may overlap.

In answer to Dr. Meltzer, we believe that mourning processes begin with early bodily changes and that the omnipotent thought process really starts with the omnipotent use of words as a defense against the anxiety aroused by unrestrainable bodily changes.

We see the mourning process as a two-phased developmental process comprising (a) anxiety for the irreparable loss of the childhood body and, overlying this, (b) paranoid anxiety at not being able to control bodily changes (metamorphosis). The process by which the adolescent uses words as omnipotent is similar to that at the end of the first year of life. The adolescent's need is to intellectualize and rationalize everything in the external world; hence his need for great plans, social reforms, etc.

We quite agree that our work covers a greater range of possibility of disorders between what is normal and what is pathological than the title of our paper indicates. Also, we did not mention the latency period for two reasons: (1) in Spanish, there are no terms that cover specific periods of infancy, and (2) in our clinical experience, latency—in its classical description—is not clearly manifest in our geographic and social environment. Our six-to eight-year-old child would fit partially into the classical description of that age