Individual Adolescent Psychotherapy

In the modulesTherapeutic Method and Individual Adult Psychotherapy an image was given of what Relational Psychoanalysis means and how it is applied. This section focuses on the adolescent population and the challenges it faces.

 

The period of adolescence is a conflictual process strongly characterized by ambivalence. This is because the teenager is not an adult. The adolescent is now coming of age, still immature to protect himself/herself alone. Adolescents experience intense and unprecedented stimulations in their body but also in their emotional world because they face new roles and demands they did not have before. Adolescents are also interested in relationships beyond their family, they are confronted for the first time with the emerging challenges of adult life, while experiencing what it means to become independent and create a more personal identity (individual, collective, psychological, sexual). They don't always know where or how to react in this whole new world. Therefore, they need to become independent but at the same time have a need for protection and care.

 

However, the same applies to the parents because they are also in a similar phase. They are also in a transitional stage of middle age, and they are also obliged to manage their own challenges such as fatigue, financial difficulties, divorce, taking care of the elderly parents, etc. So, the two sides are called to talk, bringing together their vulnerability, concern and insecurities for these new situations they have to face. The parent, having passed through puberty themselves, can better understand and help their children.

 

But there are times when teenagers need more specialized guidance, one that parents can't provide. The therapist will support and include aspects of the adolescent being treated so that he/she can cope with difficulties and form easily his/her identity and relationships with other people.

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