Adolescence

ADOLESCENCE
Irene M. Josselyn
e-Book 2015 International Psychotherapy Institute
From American Handbook of Psychiatry: Volume 1 edited by Silvano Arietti
Copyright © 1974 by Basic Books
All Rights Reserved
Created in the United States of America

ADOLESCENCE
Irene M. Josselyn
Adolescence Defined
The term “adolescence” is ubiquitous; as a result its use creates
confusion for the reader unless it is specifically defined in the context of the
discussion offered. In this chapter the term “adolescence” is used to describe

the psychological stage in personality and character development that follows
the latency phase of childhood.[1]
Prior to latency the child has, through adaptive and defense
mechanisms, achieved some integration of his internal needs, urges, and

wishes within the relatively circumscribed reality provided by his primary
love objects. During latency this integration pattern widens, with progressive
adaptation to an expanded reality and a meaningful social milieu. The typical
latency child is occupied primarily with external realities to which he
responds with relative predictability and minimal disturbance over crises. It
is not, as implied by the term “latency,” a dormant period, but rather a span of
time during which, optimally, the child’s psychological gestalt is becoming
enlarged and basically melded to provide a firm foundation for the next span
of growth, adolescence.
During adolescence there is structured upon this foundation of latency
www.freepsychotherapybooks.org 4
what will become the architecture of the adult personality and character, as
well as the crystallized potentiality for neuroses or psychoses. The analogy of
the architectural structure is not chosen lightly. No total foundation is sound
unless the bricks and mortar that are the fundamental components of that
foundation arc sound and discreetly interrelated. Thus, latency is not

optimally effective as a step toward maturation unless prelatency
components have reached a constructive solution. Any seriously faulty
solution of prelatency conflicts will result in the latency phase being poorly
balanced; in addition, that lack of balance will distort what occurs as the
superstructure develops and will effect the completion of the architectural
design, adulthood. While adolescence is the preadult phase from which
adulthood will evolve, adolescence is affected by the foundation upon which it

is built. It is important to emphasize that as the significance of the adolescent
phase becomes more and more understood, it is not to be evaluated as
independent of the past but rather, for good or bad, a superstructure upon
that past.
As many have pointed out, adolescence had not been studied with any
intensity until approximately the last 30 years. Even with the evolution of
thinking regarding psychological development from birth on, for a long time
the adolescent phase was ignored by most students of human psychological

development. Outstanding exceptions to this were Aichhorn, Bernfeld, Healy,
Hall, and in her early work, Anna Freud." Prior to their writings there were
American Handbook of Psychiatry- Volume 1 5

protests by some against youth and wonderment or despair about what the
youth of that day would do to the future. For the most part it was presumed
that if adolescence was ignored the idiosyncrasies would end. There was little
attempt to understand why the phase existed and what it achieved.
Adolescence as a Phase of Development
In recent years there has been increasing interest in exploring the
manifestations and significance of adolescence. From this study has evolved
two diametrically different points of view. There are those who describe
typical adolescence as a period of turmoil and confusion. This has implied to
others a degree of pathology that they do not believe exists. The latter group
believe that normal adolescence is not full of turmoil; they argue that those
who indicate otherwise base their conclusions upon their study of manifestly
disturbed individuals and therefore attribute to all the troubles of relatively
few.[2]
The disagreement concerning the dynamics of adolescence may be
related to terminology and emphasis rather than a basic contradiction. Every
phase of psychological maturation has inherent in it new conflicting desires to
be harmonized. During the process of resolving the conflict, there are
transient episodes of clinging to the old; at the same time the strongest force
in the normal individual is to thrust forward. There are also brief false steps
toward the next phase.
Adolescence is a phase in development. No one would assume that the

ten-year-old boy of today will be the same fifteen years from now; he will
have “grown up.” He will have grown from childhood to adulthood, having
reevaluated many facets of himself and the outer world during adolescence.
As he strives during adolescence to attain a satisfactory adult role, he does

not just seek it in playacting as he did earlier; rather he seeks for an internal
realignment that will be effectively automatic, self- expressive, and
predictable, a new self gestalt. It is this striving to abandon childhood and
attain adulthood that is adolescence, an inherent phase in maturation.
The Cultural Impact
These changes, while primarily self-initiated and the adolescent’s own
psychological task, are affected by the particular culture’s definition of the

adult’s role. Many cultures define sharply the child’s role and the adult’s role;
the path from childhood to adulthood is well trodden and clearly marked. In
contrast, in Western culture the child is only familiar with vague directions.
His position is comparable to that of the pioneers who explored the West;
they knew the way led west, but the miles between their familiar homes and
the anticipated riches at the end of their trek were uncharted except for the
vague guidelines of the sun and the stars. Children of Western culture know

that adulthood implies certain privileges, and certain obligations, among
them the freedom to choose on their own, within broad limits. Before the
individual makes his ultimate choices, he reevaluates many concepts that he
previously had uncritically accepted.
Problems in Evaluating the Adolescent
This reevaluation and ultimate mastery of an adaptation to a new
internal and external reality may be manifested in a variety of ways. Many
adolescents show no external evidence of psychological change. The process

is gradual, and only when it is relatively completed do those who know him
well realize that he is different from what he was as a child. Frequently the
change is only apparent after a period of absence. A boy of this type goes
away to college, and when vacations reunite the family he seems strange to
his parents. He is, as the family vaguely describes it, more grown up. He also is
aware of, and frequently uncomfortable about, the change, but he tolerates
the stress until vacation ends.
Another group of adolescents cause concern for their parents and
possibly their teachers. They are moody, at times manifesting a gratifying

pleasure in living and at other times acting depressed, bored, or irritable. Any
attempt to explore the latter difficulty frequently leads to the response, “I
don’t know, I just feel this way,” or a curt, “Can’t you let me alone?” School
achievement may be less than in the past, or it may manifest the same
sporadic shifts as the mood swings, with successes and failures occurring
unpredictably. This group in particular are frequently still diagnosed as “just
adolescent”; family and teachers are assured that “it will pass.” This group is
perhaps most secretive about its thoughts. For a variety of reasons the
individual prefers to find his own solutions to the internal problems with
which he struggles. Only when he feels overwhelmed by some aspect of his
confusion does he suddenly confide in his parents or in an adult friend. When

he does confide he may appear to be dramatizing and exaggerating his
difficulties. This evaluation by another may be correct, but usually the normal
adolescent is not dramatizing. He is actively aware of his discomfort and

experiences transiently a sense of having entered a blind alley that suddenly
appears to be sealed at both ends.
A third group of adolescents show the degree of their turmoil through
their overt actions. It is this group that makes the news and arouses the
apprehension of adult society. Its members seek to handle their own
confusion by changing yesterday so that today will be the beginning of a

future in utopia. They are inexperienced, naive, and have too many
contradictory goals to outline a program that adults can grasp or apply. At

times they do find pseudoadults who, as confused as they are, may become
their mentors. On the other hand, most of them are soon disillusioned by
these pseudoadults, will talk with them but will not, except for a shorter or

longer period of time, follow them. In the latter instance the adolescent has
tried on for size the ideas the adult has expressed and finally, often after long
consideration, decides those ideas do or do not fit.
There are adolescents that may or may not be a part of the third group
mentioned above. Their behavior is grossly destructive. Whether an

individual manifesting such behavior has a deep-seated core of faulty
adaptation, and therefore a character defect or a serious psychological
disturbance, only careful study over time will tell. They at least have a
frustration tolerance that is too low for the frustrations they are experiencing.
A certain number of them, either with help or by their own mastery of their
inner turmoil, will leave this type of behavior behind them as they begin to
resolve their phase-typical conflicts, and they will seek wiser ways to bring
about constructive social, political, or personal change as adults. Others will
undoubtedly become psychologically pathological adults.
The last paragraph illustrates the difficulty in evaluating “normal”

adolescence. The behavior of adolescents, their verbalization, and often their
developmental history does not give a means of quick diagnosis of the
syndrome they present." The first group described above may have among its
members those who are preschizophrenic or actually schizophrenic, the
symptoms masked by their slow, plodding attempts to deal with phase-

characteristic adolescence. The second group may have among its members
hysterical characters, incipient hysterics, or a manic-depressive constellation
that will become manifest in adulthood. The third group may include those
who in adulthood will still be psychologically young adolescents, remaining
impulsive, intolerant of frustration, and unpredictable, or who will be

sociopaths, schizophrenics, or delinquents. Any individual, irrespective of
which group he appears to represent now, may develop later a mental illness
that would appear more characteristic of a different adolescent type.
Probably the soundest tentative diagnosis of normal adolescence is when,

after a period of real communication with the individual, the adult becomes
aware that the young person he is studying does not consistently fall into any
of the above groups; rather he is shifting from one to the other and is at times
immature, at other times strikingly mature, and, by adult standards, rational.
This would suggest that the diagnosis “normal” is most valid when a
diagnostician who knows adolescents, and who knows the prodromal
symptoms of mental illness or of character defects, is confused about the

proper diagnosis, the diagnosis being difficult because of the shifts that occur
so readily in the constellation of behavior patterns and verbalizations—signs

that the adolescent is seeking to find himself.
Psychosomatic Nature of the Adolescent Emotional State
From one viewpoint the psychosomatic implications of adolescence are
very clear. The onset of psychological adolescence is closely related to the

increased function of the glands of internal secretion, particularly the
reproductive glands. (The significance of those glands in relation to the spurt
of growth prior to puberty will be discussed later.) The impact of the
reproductive glands upon the emotional state of the individual is well

illustrated in adults by various studies, such as those of Benedek concerning
the menstrual cycle in women. The young adolescent of either sex, about the
time that he attains physical puberty, becomes sensitive to things he either

previously ignored, took for granted, or let pass. He is more easily hurt, more
easily elated, more readily depressed, and more quickly angered over minor
frustrations. His sensitivity also expresses itself in less egocentric ways. He
reacts intensely to what is beautiful and to what is ugly, the former typically
gratifying, the latter typically very painful.
He loves intensely and hates intensely. It is difficult for him to tolerate
his ambivalent feelings. As a result he may love something or someone
intensely until a minor defect becomes apparent; then, particularly in

interpersonal relationships, he may hate as intensely as he loved. Similarly, if
he finds a positive element in the person or object that he has hated, he may
reverse his attitude and abandon his hostility and temporarily only feel love.
He is not completely unaware of this shift from positive to negative feelings.

He often, particularly with people he cares for a great deal, finds his inability
to handle his love and his anger, or his inability to accept imperfections, very
confusing. This is especially so when he is aware that those toward whom he
is reacting in this way do not understand and respond to each of his opposing
feelings as if each erased the other. If others cannot harmonize his feelings,
how can he? This is readily observed in an adolescent who has a basically
sound relationship with his parents. At times he feels hostility toward them
and can’t understand why they are not the people he would love. Then later
he loves them and can’t understand why they don’t believe that love.
It is important to bear in mind that the adolescent will not always
manifest this confusion in feelings or indicate the intensity of either positive
or negative responses to the beautiful or the ugly. Some adolescents deny

positive feelings for people or for experiences that one would anticipate they
would enjoy. Such denial, if indicative of an established attitude, would
suggest pathology. While an apparently insensitive adolescent may be a

disturbed adolescent, this evaluation is not necessarily true, particularly
among boys. In our present culture the all-American boy, by adult standards,
is supposed to be above expression of tender feelings, intense investment in

beauty, and other emotional reactions that are experienced by young
adolescents. Boys therefore put up a veneer of indifference that is not
necessarily how they really feel within themselves. One boy—who seemed in
every aspect of his life to present a picture of a psychologically healthy

adolescent-—-broke down crying after many hours of discussing his
remoteness from his parents, “Gee, don’t they realize I love them. I can’t show
it.” If one accepted only his overt behavior of indifference to his parents, it

was easy to see why they felt that he didn’t love them.
This sensitivity in the adolescent is often the secret that they carefully
shelter from the invasion of others. As disturbing as today’s drug culture is to
all adults, one thing can be learned from certain participants. Their
underlying sensitivity to the meaning of interpersonal relationships and

beauty, which is usually a well-kept secret, is revealed under the influence of
drugs.
The psychological sensitivity that the adolescent is experiencing is new

and therefore unfamiliar; he does not know how to channel it adequately into
his future life. This sensitivity to his internal feelings explains in part why he
works so hard to find a way to bring conflicting sensations into some sort of
working order. Since such a process cannot be mastered by intellectualization
alone, he is confused. As he recapitulates aspects of his early childhood,
attempting to find new solutions, this sensitivity to his own confusion is
always intermingled with his techniques for trying to attain a new self-image.
In his confusion society does not offer him a great deal of help; modern
civilization offers very little sharply defined structure as a framework for the
adolescent. Most of the advanced cultures of today are oriented to the
importance of progress, not to a static society. This is particularly true of
those societies based upon a democratic philosophy. Today a typical
adolescent is confused by the teachings of democracy that stress the rights of
the individual. While the adult recognizes there is a difference between
freedom and license, many adolescents consider the differentiation quite
hazy. It is difficult for them to understand why a statesman can make a
statement that, if used in a school theme, would result in a threat of

suspension from school! They cannot see the interrelationship of the total
forest because they are able to grasp only one tree at a time.
The Ego Ideal and Superego during Adolescence
If adolescence is a normal step in maturation, what are the goals and

conflicts characteristic of that developmental stage? Many explorers of this
question have stressed the identity crisis as the chief characteristic. Prior to
adolescence the child had found his identity, but it was his identity as a child.
During normal latency he lived and enriched that identity. With the advent of
psychological adolescence that childhood identity begins to lose its
effectiveness as a source of security that it once provided. Because of the

pressure for maturation, a pressure that originates from an internal source as
well as from the external world, a new identity must be sought. Self-identity is
an internal experience, the result of the interlocking of multiple aspects of
living with external and internal reality. Important components of self-
identity are the ego ideal and the superego. Together they assure a certain
degree of self-predictability based upon the individual’s own values. While

the ego ideal and superego are typically so interrelated it is often difficult to
tell them apart; during adolescence the demarcation between the two is
frequently apparent and the source of confusion for the adolescent (as well as
others).
The theoretical differentiation used in this discussion is based on Piers’s

delineation of the difference between shame and guilt. Shame is related to a
failure to live up to the individual’s self-concept of what he wishes to be; guilt
is the response to failure to live up to what is expected by those meaningful in
interpersonal relationships, primarily the parents and the established social

mores. The ego ideal defines the healthily narcissistic value system that
assures self-appreciation. It is the formulation of a gestalt that indicates, “This
is the kind of me I can love.” The superego, when artificially separated from
this, defines, “This is the kind of person who will not be punished, but will be
loved by others.” The reason for the typical interrelatedness of these two in a
psychologically healthy individual is apparent. There is not much love for the
self if punishment, including loss of love, by others is not avoided.
During adolescence the childhood ego ideal, which was based upon
being a self-loving and lovable child, is partly abandoned. The lovable self
must attain an identity as an adult, not only in a social, economic, and
parental role, but as an integrated internal self-concept. The adolescent

strives to find an ego ideal that will, as it becomes crystallized, result in
respect for the self as an adult, not as a child.
During his latency the adolescent achieved a meaningful relationship

with his peer group, he learned the rules of the game for living in the world of
his peers; his earlier ego ideal had become enriched by including the
requirement of being a good player in that game. His self-image thus had
incorporated social standards as well as the standards of his family.

Discarding this social ego ideal and alienating himself from his peer group
threatens a basic component of what he seeks, a new ego ideal. As a result he
is ashamed if he does not protest a parental demand as his peer group does,
or claims they do. He is ashamed if he dresses differently from his
companions and if he does not join them in violating a school dress code. He
probably would not mind not wearing ragged blue jeans, and even would not
object to wearing a necktie to school, except that to do so would be to
abandon the self-confidence that has resulted from social acceptance by that
world of which he had become a part during latency.
On the other hand, often the code of his peer group violates an aspect of
a family- rooted superego. The superego that developed during childhood
was primarily the result of an internalization of parentally imposed

standards. As the superego takes charge, the responses become autonomous,
providing guidelines not only to assure avoidance of punishment but, more

importantly, to assure a continuity of the needed primary love of parental

figures. If these internalized guidelines are not followed, guilt results.
Some of the values of the childhood superego relate to wise prohibitions

relevant only to childhood; others relate to values applicable at all ages. It is
not always an easy task for the adolescent to differentiate them. A simple
example of a significant component of the childhood superego that must be
modified if adulthood is to be attained is the child’s internalization of the

attitude that parents must be obeyed. There are cultures in which that aspect
of the superego remains intact in adult life. On the whole, however, in our
current culture the normal adult’s attitude is based upon the concept of self-
determination.
To attain mature status the individual must learn to differentiate
between those superego standards that are universally applicable to society
and those that are a remnant of a childhood role. While parents are often
aware of the necessity for this shift and give verbal sanction to the change, the
childhood superego has become so much a part of the individual that its
origin in parental standards has become vague. While the parents’ assurance
that modifications are correct, because what applied in childhood no longer
applies, does aid the adolescent in his attempt to attain a more mature
superego, it does not automatically bring about the shift.
Helen, a college student, who was reared in an academically oriented
family, had (except for one episode of serious illness), an unbroken record of
class attendance through high school. This record was highly praised by the
parents; any deflection from it because of a cold or a headache (she had
migraines) would have been seriously criticized. She became a student at a
college dedicated to independent study, where class attendance was

determined by the student’s own desire to learn what the professor was
discussing at the time. In spite of her parents’ enthusiasm for this educational
approach, she could not fail to attend daily every class in which she was
enrolled; she indicated she would feel too guilty if she didn’t. As a result she
could not find the time to pursue her independent study. Finally she solved
the problem by transferring to a college that required class attendance and
repressed any student initiative!
The typical adolescent, sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly, handles

the conflict between his childhood superego and the pressure to modify it to
comply with his image of an adult value system by rebelling, sometimes
seriously, more typically in a token fashion, against his own superego. In
doing so he frequently first projects that superego, using its original source as
the object against which to rebel—namely, his parents or those he sees as
rigid and authoritative people. (This may at times be a realistic technique!) He
may reveal some behavior that he has tried to keep hidden from his parents,
insisting they would not let him do it if they knew. A discussion with the
parents may indicate that they would not condemn the act; rather they had

wondered why he was not doing it. Pointing this out to the young person may
relieve him; in some instances, however, it makes him uncomfortable. He has
been deprived of a token enemy, the projection onto another of an internally
established but inappropriate value system that he wishes but fears to

abandon.
To the adolescent, rebellion against an internalized value system is at
times frightening. The superego provides security, assuring him that his
behavior will not be unpredictable. As a consequence the rebellion against the
superego often may be abandoned temporarily and the early standards held
more rigidly than previously. At such times there is a possibility of the
evolvement of a strict, crippling superego in adulthood. In the typical
individual this possibility results in a reactivation of the rebellion against the

earlier value system and, usually through verbalization rather than action, a
flaunting of imposed standards.
Currently there may be an interesting manifestation of this. Young

people, and many adults, talk about the change in sexual mores among the
young. Yet statistical studies of college students during the 1960’s did not
confirm this modification.’> Why does this contradiction exist? It is possible

that one aspect of the contradiction represents a wish and the other
represents an actuality. Maybe the mores arc not changing as much as the
young people indicate they are. On the other hand, it is equally possible that
the mores have changed. If so, to what extent does the acceptance of the
change provide an opportunity for a wish to be expressed unconsciously
through interest in the behavior of others rather than to be acted upon
secretively and guiltily? Perhaps when the present generation are in their
fifties we will know whether statistics or impressions were correct during
this time span.
As alarming as the rebellion against the superego may appear both to
adults and to the adolescent himself at times, it usually does not take a
serious form. A well-structured superego developed during childhood results
in the major aspects of the value system remaining intact. Those aspects that
succumb to the adolescent rebellion are more typically relatively minor
changes as far as social living or individual maturity is concerned. He may

rebel against wearing socks to keep his feet clean, but he doesn’t steal or
murder!
As indicated previously, differentiation between the ego ideal and the

superego is usually difficult because the two, which during childhood and
hopefully when adulthood is attained are melded and interrelated, are
frequently in conflict during adolescence. A patient described his conflict

succinctly in one situation. He and a group of friends planned a trip to Europe
that would involve a minimal expenditure for living expenses. Each individual
of the group had earned the money for the limited budget they projected. His

parents, not wishing him to be stranded in a foreign country, gave him
traveler’s checks to be used in an emergency. At first he was happy to have
the extra security, but then he experienced an overwhelming sense of shame.
His friends were acting as independent, mature individuals; he was secretly

more secure because, under a veneer of independence, he was a child being
taken care of by his parents. He became so uncomfortable under this burden
that he returned the traveler’s checks to his parents. When the parents’
attempt to persuade and cajole him to accept the checks failed, they became
angry, pointing out they would worry about him and their summer would be
ruined. This created intolerable guilt in him; he almost abandoned the trip
because of the discomfort resulting from the conflict between his ego ideal
and his superego. Fortunately he solved the conflict by telling his friends
about his “neurotic parents,” and by plotting with his friends for a splurge
with the traveler’s checks during their last days in Europe.
Adults find it difficult to understand certain aspects of the adolescent’s

struggle to define an adult ego ideal and superego for himself; therefore, they
are often unable to help him wisely in his psychological clumsiness. Part of
what the adolescent seeks are an ego ideal and superego that will incorporate
an occupational role he respects for himself and the training for and
achievement of a work identity that will, through acceptance of obligations,
achieve approval, not punishment, and a place in society for him. High school
and college educators commonly indicate to parents that if their son or
daughter are planning to go to college, the parents should not be concerned if
the young person frequently shifts his or her vocational goals, or appears to
have none; he or she will find that in college. Regardless of the practical
aspects of ability, a beginning college student who has not mapped out his
occupational future is still confused about one aspect of his adult ego ideal
and superego; he has not as yet determined who, vocationally and as a part of
a social structure, he wants to become.
Regardless of the healthy effectiveness of his childhood ego ideal and
superego, the adolescent, in order to reach relatively healthy adulthood, must

abandon those values that were appropriate only during childhood, or that
were necessary in his situation as a child, and selectively retain those of value
for all ages. While his selection is facilitated through the wise, not rigid,
counseling of others, the selection must be his if he is to experience a true
self-identity, not just one that is an image in a mirror, the image of someone
else.
Adolescence as Rebirth
The ego ideal and superego do not develop independent of other steps
in psychological growth. They are both the result of, and the stimulus for, that
growth. This suggests another facet to explore in regard to the adolescent
period. Bios has referred to adolescence as a time of the second individuation

process, which for brevity could be termed “rebirth.” This conceptualization
would seem the most broadly descriptive term of adolescent psychology. In
seeking a new identity, the individual recapitulates the process of
development that resulted in the integration achieved in his childhood.

Although it would be simple if the repetition compulsion described by Freud
were not a part of human psychology, clinical evidence suggests that at least
the human species does not abandon the past to start anew, but rather
repeats the old in order, if possible, to find a new answer. During adolescence
the individual seeking a new identity recapitulates the phases of development
that resulted in his childhood identity. In contrast, however, to the clinically
typical repetition compulsion, he does so with new tools and with new goals.
To the extent that he mastered any earlier phase, the recapitulation during
adolescence will be more easily handled, other things being equal, than if his
mastery was incomplete or dealt with by the utilization of unfortunate
defenses. It is because of this tendency to relive the past, and reevaluate it in

terms of the future, that adolescence cannot be understood as either isolated
from the past or as the beginning of attainment of the goals for the future. It is
a rebirth in which neither the first birth can be ignored nor the future of the
reborn person be assumed to be alien to the initial growth process.
Body Image in Adolescence
According to the concepts of this article, psychological adolescence
typically begins at the time of the spurt in growth and the body changes
associated with prepuberty and puberty. This physical change results in the
young adolescent experiencing an unfamiliarity with himself. We know a
piece of glass is a mirror because when we look into it we see a body that is
ours. Imagine what the experience of seeing his reflection would be for a
thirteen-year-old boy, who had not seen himself in a mirror for a year, during
which time he had grown several inches and his body contour had changed.
Actually, in a less dramatic way, the adolescent’s body, because of the typical
body changes, is less familiar to him than in the past. As one boy who had
grown quite rapidly half-humorously commented, “I wonder if I am
farsighted; my feet are so far away when I stand up, but I can still see them.”
Because children and adolescents have been encouraged to engage in

physical activities that require good body coordination, the body
awkwardness of 50 years ago is not as universally observed among the
adolescents of today; during the period of rapid growth the young person is
sufficiently involved in physical activity to coordinate more effectively on the
whole. If an adolescent does show the physical awkwardness that used to be
considered so typical of adolescence, and if his history indicates that prior to
his spurt of growth he appeared well coordinated, it is possible to observe

how an adolescent actually does, as a result of physical changes, feel
unfamiliar with his body. His self-identity through body familiarity is
undermined.

If adolescence is conceptualized as a rebirth, this manifestation
resembles what occurred in the past as the infant began to become aware of
his body. The infant lacked the development that enabled him to handle his
body as he would later. In contrast to the adolescent, the infant did not know
from where he came; he could not recall his fetal state before he had hands,
arms, and legs. The adolescent, discovering a new encasement of himself,
does know his physical past; he is often proud of the changes he sees in
himself. But he does not necessarily feel at home in this new encasement.
As a consequence of the changes that have occurred, an adolescent is
very conscious of his body, both its beauty and its malfunctioning. He is aware
of body sensations that are often alarming to him because he doesn’t
understand them; he is fearful that abnormalities are developing that will
make him an inadequate adult in the framework of his own sex. An example
of this is the temporary development of a deposit of adipose tissue in the

breasts of a boy, particularly if he is obese; he fears his body will be
effeminate. The girl may be concerned because her breasts are not developing
rapidly enough, and she fears she will have a masculine body while she is
striving to see her body as indicative of her femininity. These responses to
confusing patterns of physical development are significant in evaluating the

“normal” adolescent. Thus, the boy who has a feminine identification may
value his breast development; the girl may value her “boyish” figure because
it denies her biological femininity. But concern about body development does
not always indicate pathology.
Awareness of the possibility that his body encasement might not be

perfect should make the adolescent very careful of his body. Although he will
be careful at times, at other times he will act alarmingly to the contrary. He
then may manifest many of the characteristics of the oral phase of

development. When feeling lost in his interpersonal relationships and in his
world, he may revert to the same comfort source that he found gratifying
during infancy. He may overeat in spite of gaining too much weight, or he may
eat foods that he knows the doctors believe cause acne. Food represents to
him comforting that in infancy was provided by others but that he can now
provide for himself.
The problem of differentiating between a normal conflict, for which a
temporary solution is sought, and a serious conflict, which the adolescent
cannot handle, becomes apparent in the case of adolescent eating patterns. As
indicated above, if transiently insecure he may handle his longing for the
support found during infancy by eating. He may also be obese or deny the
doctor’s recommendations about acne because being unattractive is
protection against the gratification, particularly sexual, that he fears he would

be tempted to achieve were he not physically unattractive.
Kate illustrated rather dramatically the interlocking between a transient

and a deeper, more sustained conflict. With a lifelong history of a tendency
toward overweight, she became a compulsive eater and rapidly gained weight
during early adolescence. She was quite insecure during this period, an
insecurity that appeared related to her confusion about her goals and to
parental criticism of the lack of future plans. A rather sudden spurt in

academic achievement resulted in increased self-confidence and adherence to
a reducing diet. The latter was very effective, and in about two months she
became an attractive, feminine adolescent. Then her compulsive eating

patterns returned and with them her obesity. Her self-confidence appeared to
remain intact. It became clear, however, that her compulsive eating returned
at the time boys in her class changed their response to her. Previously she
had been an asexual friend to them; after she lost weight they sought her as a
“girl friend.” She finally recognized that she had been frightened by this
change in the boys’ attitude. Her sexual conflict, which had aspects of a
conflict deeper than her original insecurity, only then became clear.
Dependency during Adolescence
This reliving of early infancy becomes manifest in other broader
psychological responses. Although it is often stressed that adolescence is a
time of striving for independence—which it certainly is—the great
dependency needs of the adolescent may be overlooked. As he attempts to
become more independent and strives to find his own self in a new form, he
may overextend himself, or fear that he has.
This creates anxiety; he then appears to regress to a dependent state

characteristic of a period when he really was helpless. He loses all confidence
in his own ability to make decisions and seeks advice from parents or parent
surrogates. He usually does not seek advice on deep philosophical questions,

which adults would probably willingly give at great length. The advice
frequently sought is whether to ask a certain girl for a date, what courses to
take the next semester or, by the girl, what dress to wear, or whether her
lipstick is really a good color for her. The normal adolescent, when he seeks
such advice, may become angry with the advice that is given. From the
standpoint of adolescent psychology this is easy to understand. If the advice is
asked because of anxiety, the fact that advice is given relieves some of the
anxiety; then a new discontent arises. The adolescent does not want to be
dependent upon parents or even parent surrogates; he wants to have respect
for himself as an individual. The only way he can achieve that, in his mind, is
to refuse the advice given. He therefore says the advice is stupid and does the
opposite. Fortunately, if the earlier child-parent relationship was positively
meaningful, the adolescent is more apt to confuse his parents by seeking
advice as if he wanted it primarily to do the opposite only in regard to

relatively minor, token aspects of his living; the color of lipstick is really not
that important.

There is another factor in his seeking advice on minor events in his life.
If the advice is given it assures him that in times of real stress he can still
depend on his parents for guidance, even if he is attempting to be
independent. The mature adult does not wish to be independent to the extent
that he will not utilize the expertise of others. It is not surprising then that the
adolescent, while striving for his naive concept of independence is frightened
at times and seeks in a real or token way people to whom he can turn who are
more experienced and who will offer a helping hand if it is needed.
In areas related to long-time, meaningful goals, the adolescent is more
willing to listen to the adult because he does want external help in sorting out
his confusion; the long-time goals are aspects of his life that he is mulling over
but about which he does not have to make an immediate decision as he would
if he had to decide whether to take a girl on a certain date. On important
issues the normal adolescent listens and often stores away what he hears to
think it over in his own secret way, even though on the surface he may seem
to resent the advice and imply that he will do the opposite. Adults who say to
the adolescent asking for advice, “Don’t ask me because you will do as you
please anyway,” may lock a door that should be left open, irrespective of
whether the adolescent walks through it at that point.
Redefining of Self-Object during Adolescence
Another manifestation of adolescence as a rebirth is the negativism
observable in many psychologically healthy adolescents. Just as it does with a
two year old, negativism plays a significant role in the maturation of the
adolescent. The two year old, as he becomes aware of the strength inherent in
being an individual instead of a compliant extension of another, gains
increasing confidence in his separateness by saying “no.” “Yes” is as if he were
putty; “no” indicates a strength of a solid form. The infant, as lie becomes
aware of his separateness from others, assures himself of a new-found
identity by being negativistic. Childrearing practices of any culture lead to a
gradual remission of negativism paralleling a growing assurance of self-
identity within socially imposed and reality limitations.
The young adolescent, since he senses that the identity he established as
a child is not the adult identity that he now is seeking, utilizes again the
mechanisms that first established his own self-concept. He also, in a different

form, is negativistic. If society decreed that all men should have long hair, it
could be anticipated that many long-haired adolescent boys of today would

shear off their locks. When miniskirts became acceptable high school attire,
the maxi skirt became the vogue. It is the new style accepted by the
extremists but questioned by the greater majority of adults that often, if the
protest of the latter is strong enough, provides an immovable object against
which to assert the valued, irresistible force of negativism, becoming the

adolescent cause celebre. It is the way to be “different,” not different from the

peer group, but different in the eyes of those who established the childhood
code the adolescent had accepted in the past.
The psychologically healthy adolescent does not intentionally carry his
negativism beyond a point of no return unless he is driven to do so by the
counternegativism of adults. Unfortunately the point of no return cannot

always be delineated and can at times be evaluated only by a longitudinal
study. Will an intelligent boy, who is negativistic in his rejection of education
beyond high school and apparently deaf to all advice concerning the
advantages of further education, ultimately invest himself in further

education after he has effectively established his own self-realized identity, or
will he cling to the identity his negativism provided him with? The answer
may become apparent retrospectively after his adult configuration has

become solidified. Fortunately most psychologically healthy adolescents do
not go beyond the point of no return.
The Sexual Drive in Adolescence
With the advent of adolescence the sexual drive becomes intensified,
partly because of the increased secretions of the reproductive glands. Less

sexual confusion exists in simpler societies in which the increased drive can,
within the framework of the mores of the social structure, find more readily a
permitted pathway of expression with the opposite sex. For many reasons
Western culture does not sanction such a pathway; instead, it complicates the
early discharge of sexual tensions by fostering the ideal that mature sexuality
represents a fusion of a biological urge and the emotional desire to love and
be loved.
In Western civilization being loved and loving, at least consciously
asexually, are freely expressed, optimal emotional experiences during

childhood. Many theories of psychological growth patterns consider the
preadolescent experience with love as the roots from which the ultimate
heterosexual fusion of sexuality and love grows. The masturbatory fantasies
of the child prior to adolescence indicate that the fusion, in an immature form,
begins prior to the onset of adolescence. The intensified sexual feelings of the
young adolescent are not yet directed solely toward an heterosexual goal.
They readily become a part of any emotionally invested experience. They
contribute to the intensity with which the young person responds to both
pleasure and disappointment. These modes of discharge are often

experienced without conflict.
In a desirable family milieu the child’s primary love objects are his
parents; the clearest pathway for expression of fused sexual response and
love is thus the familiar one of love for the parents. Because of the increased
intensity of sexual feelings, this leads to a reactivation of the oedipal conflict.

The incest taboo became well imbedded in the psychological format of the

individual as he struggled for a solution to the oedipal conflict in childhood.
The prohibition is reinforced during adolescence because in addition to the
incestuous implication, love for the parent represents remaining immature
and a child in his own eyes and those of his parents. He thus must deny and
repress the reactivated oedipal wish. He frequently denies it in his emphatic
refusal to tolerate physical contact or any suggestion of seductive behavior by
the parent of the opposite sex. Repression of the wish is not as easily
achieved. Dreams of the adolescent often have a poorly disguised or

undisguised incestuous nature. To add to the confusion, the most apparently
rejecting son or daughter will have moments of being pleasantly and
harmlessly seductive with the parent of the opposite sex.
Frequently the adolescent attempts to solve the oedipal conflict by a

denial of affection for the parent of the opposite sex, and he experiences an
intensification of positive feelings for the parent of the same sex. This offers a
dual conflict again. To relate in this fashion to a parent of the same sex again
represents a threat of returning to childhood. It also frightens the adolescent
because he recognizes the possible implications of a homosexual orientation.

Consequently he denies, or attempts to repress, his affection for the parent of
the same sex and resents any implication of a strong emotional tie. The
adolescent vacillates between this and a “man-to-man” or a “woman-to-
woman” relationship with the parent of the same sex.
Parents contribute to the intensity of the reactivated oedipal conflict.
The mother finds her son in his good moments a delightful male, and she
utilizes her flirtatious manners that may have become ineffectual with her
long-time mate. She avoids the conflict inherent in such a response to her son
by being “motherly.” When, for example, she kisses him and he protests, her
answer is, “Why won’t you let your mother kiss you?” He probably doesn’t
know why, but he does know that he is uncomfortable. A father likewise,

when the son is in a good mood in which he feels free to express his affection
in a manner that he cannot express it to his male friends, finds with him a
gratifying relationship. The reverse situation exists with a girl; her father
finds her budding femininity stimulating, and he, under the guise of being
“after all her father,” responds warmly to her. She, if needing to deny her
affection for her father, is often quite resistant to his overtures. When she is
not fighting any expression of her affection for her mother, she again provides
the mother with a closeness that the mother does not know with friends.
These responses by parents, while increasing the young person’s

conflicts, are not, unless excessive because of the neurotic need of the parents
or of the young person, an unfortunate response. A boy gains confidence in
his own masculine attractiveness as a result of his mother’s response. He also

gains strength from his closeness with his father if the struggle for self-
identity becomes too overpowering and external support is needed. The girl
likewise gains confidence in her femininity from her father’s response. At the

same time her closeness to her mother, when it is needed, provides her with
an opportunity to discuss her own femininity and to model herself after a
loved woman. Just as the oedipal conflict is an essential part of maturation in
childhood, it is an essential part of the maturational phase of adolescence. If

parents are not available to play this role, appear too threatening, or are
unwilling, other surrogates are frequently sought, as indicated in the
ambivalent relationship with a basically loved teacher, or other adult,

expressed by the “crush.”
During the adolescent phase many solutions may be tried to resolve the
oedipal tie, solutions that if they were to become a permanent part of the
adult character structure would have unfortunate repercussions. For
example, a boy, instead of turning toward his mother, may transiently seek a
girl who will mother him; he may seek a girl who represents only a sexual
object; he may deny any interest in any girl; or he may choose a girl who does
not have a psychologically feminine orientation. He may turn to an older man

or to some male peer whom he can love as he fears to love his father. He may
renounce his masculinity, rejecting any identification with his father or any
masculine figure. These intense, frequently ambivalent relationships are often
brief. While this brevity may be evaluated by the adult world as evidence of
fickleness and a lack of investment in any relationship, it may be indicative of
a wise rejection of possible solutions to the oedipal conflict.
One of the disquieting manifestations of this attempt to solve the
oedipal conflict—disquieting to both the young person and to adults—is the
implication that adolescent sexual attachment toward a person of the same
sex is the harbinger of an ultimate homosexual adult life pattern. In some this
type of behavior may represent a fixation at a homosexual level. In a
psychologically normal adolescent this is not true; it may, however, become a
fixation at an adolescent homosexual stage if unwisely handled. Many

adolescents who at times appear to be homosexual are in reality trying to find
a substitute relationship with someone who will serve in a surrogate parental
role as the struggle to be free of the child-parent relationship is being waged
in spite of the anxiety such a separation arouses. As mentioned above,

because the goal of sexual feelings is not yet crystallized, such feelings may
become a direct, unsublimated component of any internally meaningful
experience.
While the reintensification of the oedipal conflict is an important part of
the confusion of the adolescent as he deals with the increased intensity of his
sexual aims, it is by no means the sole source of sexual conflict. In most
cultures he faces many other major problems, as he tries to attain mature
heterosexuality, which is both biological and social. Particularly if his

relationship with a parent figure (during childhood) has led to an
identification with a mature person of his own sex, he sees adulthood as

attained sexually by emulating the person of the same sex. In the past this

adult had appeared to be a giant, he himself a pygmy. As a consequence his
identification with the older person has not assured him that he is the same,
particularly in sexual potential. He wishes to attain sameness; he is not
confident he can.
The adolescent feels unsure of his sexual competence. Because he has

doubts about his own sexual adequacy, he fears it will be seen by others;
because of his tie to a person of the same sex he worries about homosexuality.
To deny these concerns, he may talk or act out a genital sexual pattern
compatible with heterosexuality. If he only talks it, he often is masking a deep

fear that he can’t act it out. If he acts out a pseudoheterosexual role, he either
finds it unsatisfactory or is vaguely aware that the sexual act itself is a mutual
masturbatory experience, far short of what he believed a true, mature

heterosexual experience would be. The latter is particularly disturbing to the
young adolescent girl, for she is often frigid. She interprets this as evidence of
her failure in her feminine sexual identity. The fact that the reproductive
glands do not reach full maturity with the increased functioning at puberty
probably contributes to some adolescent confusion. There has not been
sufficient study of this to state it as more than an hypothesis, but it may be
that part of the difficulty in fulfilling the sexual goals of the young adolescent
is related to this immaturity.
In today’s culture sexual fulfillment is not evaluated only by the capacity
for genital discharge of sexual tension with anyone of the opposite sex. It is
considered to be attained when love for the sexual partner and sexual
discharge are one. Often the love an adolescent experiences for another
person of the opposite sex is an expression of a need of the young girl or boy
that is not readily melded with sexuality. Possibly such melding cannot occur
until the sexual glands have attained a stable maturity, and emotional needs
and responses have also attained relative maturity.
Social Meanings during Adolescence
Fortunately for parents, as well as for the adolescent, the normal
adolescent has days or months in which he is reliving the latency period. He is
interested in his school work, but now he orients it to the reality of his future,
not just to the present. He works out in fantasy many possible roles that he
can play in the social and economic structure when he becomes an adult. He is
interested in sports, either as a participant or as an observer, and formalizes
into a social philosophy for the future the standards of fair play and
sportsmanship that he learned during his latency. Temporarily the mountain

toward maturity that he has been struggling to climb has become a restful
plateau, both for himself and for his parents.
There is one exception, however, to this plateau concept. During this
period he often translates his philosophy into thinking about social issues, the

status of minority groups or of others less fortunate than himself, political
formulations or international relations. These ideas have intense affective
meaning, but inevitably reflect a limited grasp of all the reality implications.
His protest becomes verbal, and he may join with those who with similar
idealistic goals verbalize their feelings, often expressing hostility toward
those whom they consider barriers to the fulfillment of their goals, for
example, the Establishment. The reliving and reevaluation of latency
temporarily becomes a source of concern to others and may lead the young
adolescent into activities that are basically incompatible with the philosophy
he is expressing.
This behavior has many components. The social formulations of latency
provide a way to escape complete self-absorption; the social structure, not

the self, must find new rules by which to live. Lack of life experience leads
often to naive, but sincere concepts. At the same time, however, it is not only
inexperience and the resultant naiveté that energizes the drive toward these
social goals. The drive may be intensified by: the wish to find an area of
adequacy; the need to find a securely dependent relationship in a group that

provides a familylike unity that is obviously not the primary family; the need
to rebel against the symbol of a childhood relationship with his family (at
present the Establishment) in order to establish a confident respect for the
self; or a wish to discharge sexual tension through love for a cause and for
individuals who are abstractions and thus do not threaten intimacy.
“Regression” during Adolescence
The recapitulation during adolescence of childhood patterns of adaption
and defense, and the firm establishment of defenses and adaption against
ego-alien impulses, is described by many as regression in response to the
intensification of inherent needs and drives. This concept would imply a
temporary ego failure. In some cases even in relatively normal adolescents

this is probably a valid assumption. An example of such regression would be
when overeating to the extent of causing obesity occurs because food
represents love (as experienced in infancy). In the normal adolescent,
however, the way in which childhood is relived is not characteristic of the

past, but rather is an attempt to correct the child-oriented solutions of
psychological conflicts, thereby attaining, hopefully, an adult identity.
In many ways it parallels the latter part of a successful psychoanalysis;

the patient, after regressing and coming to recognize the infantile manner in
which problems have been handled, reconstitutes himself to attain in an adult
fashion those goals that were sought in childhood in a childlike way. The
normal adolescent does not have to uncover the unconscious use of childhood
tools; he is experimenting with new tools that may more adequately serve his
needs. Many of the former tools prove of value with or without some
modification; even though at times he casts them aside, he ultimately uses

them again. Other and new tools appear at times to be the only answer to

reconstituting himself as an adult. Gradually he recognizes the importance of
multiple and functionally interrelated approaches. As a consequence he
interlaces his multiple needs, wishes, and drives, binding them together with
adaptive and defense mechanisms that finally represent an identity that is

himself as an adult.
Resolution of Adolescence
This process occurs throughout adolescence, but during the early phase
there is a chaotic pattern that gradually becomes a discernible design in later

adolescence. He achieves that ultimate design by finding, not always
optimally, a solution to each recapitulated phase of early development.
He becomes at home in his new body and with his new physiology. This
is facilitated by the completion of the physical and biological growth that has
been initiated by prepuberty and puberty. He has a body image of himself that
represents his external self-concept.
He learns by experimentation, evaluation, and from the behavior of

others the wise limits of independence. He also, as he feels safer in his
achievement of wise independence, finds that to be dependent on others is
not necessarily to be a child. Dependence is childish only when it is sought as
a child would. He becomes aware or unconsciously accepts that society is

based upon the interdependence of its members—an adult form of
dependency in the human species.
As he becomes increasingly familiar with, and secure in, his nonchild
self-identity, he does not have to protest so emphatically that he is a person in

his own right. What was negativism earlier becomes a capacity to think
rationally about those issues that previously aroused his negativism.
Hopefully he does not completely abandon his earlier naive attitudes, but
rather exposes them to a rational evaluation that enables him to see their
weaknesses and potentials, and to outline a course toward fulfillment of their
positive potentials.
He resolves the reactivated oedipal conflict by turning to a member of
the opposite sex for sexual gratification, a nonincestuous object acceptable to
himself. His sexual feelings, lacking goal direction in early adolescence, has
become goal oriented; he has attained a mature heterosexual level of sexual

maturation. With this forward step he can experience his nonsexual love for
his parents without anxiety, accepting them and hopefully being accepted by
them as an adult with virtues and shortcomings. A tie to his parents persists,
well-established through the years of childhood. The tie does not bind, it only
enriches. It contributes to the capacity of the young adult to be a parent.
Experience and biological maturation brings confidence in his (or her)
sexual identity as a male (or female). A sense of sexual adequacy relieves the

anxiety experienced earlier and frees the individual to enjoy that adequacy. At
the same time there is a relief from the strain of multiple sexual goals, and
gratification in meaningful relationships such as friendships that have now
become asexual is found.
Whereas previously he had vacillated, he incorporates defined role
patterns for himself with the development of familiarity and the acceptance of
his own identity. He clarifies his role in his family of the past and, if married,
his new family; he finds secure employment; and he accepts responsibilities
in accordance with the society of which, as he now accepts, he is an integral
part. He has become an adult. Later he may modify or change the roles, but he
will not do so impulsively or confusedly, but only after careful exploration of
the multiple facets of his familiar role and the new one by which he is
tempted.
Obviously the preceding recapitulation of the resolution of adolescence
formulates a theoretical termination that in reality is possibly never
completely achieved by any individual. One of the frequent unfortunate

consequences of failure to achieve an adequate resolution of adolescence is
the loss of the emotional sensitivity and responsiveness of adolescence. As
their naiveté is confronted with the negating aspects of reality, too many
resolve the conflict by repressing the sensitivity and responsiveness rather
than incorporating it into an approach to reality. Unfortunately this is not
usually considered as pathology, but rather as evidence of growing up. To the
extent that repression instead of maturation of this aspect of adolescence
occurs, to that extent any cultural growth is retarded. That sensitivity and
responsiveness, if it matures, results in the individual’s capacity to care for, to

be involved in, and to offer wise participation and leadership in areas beyond
his immediate interpersonal relationships. That widened capacity protects
society from his use of any unusual creativeness he may have solely
egocentrically; instead, the creativeness will also be beneficial to those who

are represented to him only through the abstractions of “society.”
To summarize, during infancy and early childhood the individual
struggles with the basic maturational conflicts that appear to be characteristic
of the psychological development of at least the human species. With the

attainment of adolescence these conflicts are reactivated, and the individual is
“reborn” to face the psychological task of formulating an adult identity. What
he ultimately formulates, or fails to formulate, will be significantly affected by

his infancy and early childhood experiences, but not necessarily irrevocably
determined by them. To the extent childhood conflicts are resolved

constructively, to that extent adolescent conflicts will have a greater
possibility of a constructive resolution. Irrespective of the childhood past,

however, adolescence is a phase of rebirth that, if relatively achieved, brings
forth an adult.

The preceding article is a description of the manifest behavior of the
normal adolescent. To probe deeper into the psychodynamics of the
adolescent phase, the following publications are suggested:
Blos, P., On Adolescence, Free Press, New York, 1962.
_____, The Young Adolescent, Free Press, New York, 1970.
Deutsch, H., “Selected Problems of Adolescence,” The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child,
Monograph No. 3, International Universities Press, New York, 1967.
Erikson, E. H., Identity and Youth Crisis, Norton, New York, 1968.
Freud, A., “Adolescence,” in The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, Vol. 13, pp. 255-278,
International Universities Press, New York, 1958.
Bibliography
Aichhorn, A., Wayward Youth, Viking, New York, 1925.
Bell, R., and Buerkle, J., “Mother and Daughter Attitudes to Pre-marital Sexual Behavior,”
Marriage & Fam. Living, 23: 390-392, 1961.
Benedek, T., Studies in Psychosomatic Medicine: Psychosexual Functions in Women, Ronald Press,
New York, 1952.
Bernfeld, S., “Types of Adolescence,” Psychoanal. Quart., 7:243-253, 1938.
Blos, P., “The Second Individuation Process of Adolescence,” in The Psychoanalytic Study of the
Child, Vol. 22, pp. 162-186, International Universities Press, New York, 1967.
Ehrmann, W., Premarital Dating Behavior, Holt, New York, 1959.
Erikson, E. H., Identity and Youth Crisis, Norton, New York, 1968.
Freedman, M. B., “The Sexual Behavior of American College Women,” Merrill Palmer Quart.,
11:33-48, 1965.
Freud, A., “Adolescence,” in The Psycho-analytic Study of the Child, Vol. 13, pp. 255-278,
International Universities Press, New York, 1958.
_____, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, International Universities Press, New York, 1936.
Freud, S. (1933), “New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis,” in Strachey, J. (Ed.), Standard

Edition, Complete Psychological Works, Vol. 22, pp. 3-182, Hogarth, London, 1964.
Grinder, R., and Schmitt, S., “Coeds and Contraceptive Information,” J. Marriage & Fam., 28:471-
479, 1966.
Hall, G. S., Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1904.
Halleck, S., “Sex and Mental Health on the Campus,” J.A.M.A., 200:684-690, 1967.
Healy, W. H., The Individual Delinquent: A Textbook of Diagnosis and Prognosis for All Concerned in
Understanding Offenders, Little, Boston, 1915.
Lichtenstein, H., “Identity and Sexuality: A Study of Their Interrelationship,” J. Am. Psychoanal. A.,
9.179-260, 1961.
Piers, G., and Singer, M., Shame and Guilt, Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Ill., 1953.
Schafer, R., Aspects of Internalization, International Universities Press, New York,
1968.
Stuart, H. C., “Normal Growth and Development during Adolescence,” New Eng. J. Med., 234:666-
672, 693-700, 732-738, 1946.

Weiner, I. B., Psychological Disturbance in Adolescence, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1970.
Notes
[1] Editor’s Note: Some authors distinguish also a juvenile and preadolescent period.
[2] These apparently opposing points of view are summarized in Wiener’s Psychological Disturbance in
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ADOLESCENCE

From American Handbook of Psychiatry: Volume 1 edited by Silvano Arietti

Copyright © 1974 by Basic Books

All Rights Reserved

Created in the United States of America

The term “adolescence” is ubiquitous; as a result its use creates

discussion offered. In this chapter the term “adolescence” is used to describe

the latency phase of childhood.[1]

Prior to latency the child has, through adaptive and defense

mechanisms, achieved some integration of his internal needs, urges, and

adaptation to an expanded reality and a meaningful social milieu. The typical

latency child is occupied primarily with external realities to which he

responds with relative predictability and minimal disturbance over crises. It

During adolescence there is structured upon this foundation of latency

the architectural structure is not chosen lightly. No total foundation is sound

foundation arc sound and discreetly interrelated. Thus, latency is not

components have reached a constructive solution. Any seriously faulty

superstructure develops and will effect the completion of the architectural

design, adulthood. While adolescence is the preadult phase from which

adulthood will evolve, adolescence is affected by the foundation upon which it

phase becomes more and more understood, it is not to be evaluated as

the adolescent phase was ignored by most students of human psychological

American Handbook of Psychiatry- Volume 1 5

attempt to understand why the phase existed and what it achieved.

Adolescence as a Phase of Development

In recent years there has been increasing interest in exploring the

manifestations and significance of adolescence. From this study has evolved

The disagreement concerning the dynamics of adolescence may be

related to terminology and emphasis rather than a basic contradiction. Every

phase of psychological maturation has inherent in it new conflicting desires to

be harmonized. During the process of resolving the conflict, there are

Adolescence is a phase in development. No one would assume that the

As he strives during adolescence to attain a satisfactory adult role, he does

realignment that will be effectively automatic, self- expressive, and

predictable, a new self gestalt. It is this striving to abandon childhood and

attain adulthood that is adolescence, an inherent phase in maturation.

The Cultural Impact

These changes, while primarily self-initiated and the adolescent’s own

psychological task, are affected by the particular culture’s definition of the

American Handbook of Psychiatry- Volume 1 7

individual makes his ultimate choices, he reevaluates many concepts that he

previously had uncritically accepted.

Problems in Evaluating the Adolescent

This reevaluation and ultimate mastery of an adaptation to a new

internal and external reality may be manifested in a variety of ways. Many

adolescents show no external evidence of psychological change. The process

the stress until vacation ends.

Another group of adolescents cause concern for their parents and

possibly their teachers. They are moody, at times manifesting a gratifying

attempt to explore the latter difficulty frequently leads to the response, “I

unpredictably. This group in particular are frequently still diagnosed as “just

which he struggles. Only when he feels overwhelmed by some aspect of his

confusion does he suddenly confide in his parents or in an adult friend. When

adolescent is not dramatizing. He is actively aware of his discomfort and

appears to be sealed at both ends.

A third group of adolescents show the degree of their turmoil through

confusion by changing yesterday so that today will be the beginning of a

contradictory goals to outline a program that adults can grasp or apply. At

American Handbook of Psychiatry- Volume 1 9

consideration, decides those ideas do or do not fit.