ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall look at some central psychoanalytic contributions to the understanding of adolescence. I shall outline some theories that I have found useful in my psychoanalytic work with adolescents and give short vignettes as examples of the use of these theories in two specific areas. Firstly, I shall illustrate the continued relevance of Freud's developmental theory and the reworking of early Oedipal relationships from early adolescence onwards. Secondly, I shall look at the development of psychological structures in adolescence, which can lead to specific adolescent states of mind, and I shall illustrate how the adolescent's use of their mind and sense of their body can be affected in severe disturbances.
