Mental disturbance during adolescence is defined in terms of a developmental breakdown. The university student is seen as still being in a period of emotional development and as not having reached the end of the adolescent developmental process. Any signs of emotional disturbance have to be viewed therefore as indicating problems in the development to normal adulthood rather than relying on psychiatric definitions of the disturbance. By taking this view an argument is put forward, supported by clinical illustrations, that the treatment of choice for the disturbed university student is that of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.