A Two-Systems Engagement with the Psychoanalytic Model of Adolescence

ABSTRACT In this paper the authors address the strengths of the traditional psychoanalytic model of adolescence, but suggest that it applies mainly to disturbed young people and misrepresents the majority of well-functioning adolescents. This blurs distinctions between normality and pathology, affecting diagnosis and clinical technique, promoting as well a skewed image of the phase in the general culture. To redress this difficulty, the authors propose revision and elaboration of the classical model through the addition of a perspective based on a developmental model of two systems of self-regulation that effectively describes the full range of functioning and generates a wider repertoire of techniques. Using data from 38 published cases, they counter some traditional premises, demonstrating that psychoanalysis can be the treatment of choice for disturbed adolescents, as it is highly effective, accepted by most adolescents and their parents when it includes concurrent parent work, and can be brought to proper termination with improved outcomes.