The Late Teenage Years

The problems which the individual has to deal with in adolescence are qualitatively different from those of childhood; they are related in particular to the adolescent's reaction/responses to the physical development of his/her sexual body, and the changing relationship to the parents and to the world in which he/she lives.

We have to take into account the revival of infantile conflicts and the newly emerging sexual and aggressive urges and experiences, both of which have to be integrated by the adolescent so that a new equilibrium can be created. The adolescent finds himself in the very difficult position of having to make all these readjustments whilst he has to deal with the subsequent conflicts and anxieties.

The earlier passionate mixture of love and hatred that characterises the attachment and dependency on the parents must now be renounced until the adolescent reaches a point at which it is possible for him to confirm his own identity and find new love relationships. These must neither be based too much on repetition of previous early attachments, nor be entirely and exaggeratedly opposed to them.

It goes without saying that none of this can be achieved without much upheaval and experimenting. The step from adolescence to adulthood is complex and involves not only the individual's emotional experience, but also the continuous input, reactions from the world in which he/she lives. It is these interactions that are described and discussed in The Late Teenage Years.