ABSTRACT
The adolescent is not some mysterious breed of human as many seem to think. She is going through a developmental process that is normal and necessary. The young child, precursor to the adolescent, has introjected many faulty messages that affect his feelings about himself and these messages continue on through adolescence and adulthood. Feelings, memories and fantasies from the past interrupt the natural flow of the organism. In adolescence the behaviours may become transformed into more sophisticated ways of anaesthetizing herself to avoid feelings, since she has learned that feelings are fraught with danger. The use of drugs, increased sexual activity, eating disorders, anti-social activity, suicidal tendencies—these are the behaviours that plague the adolescent population. An important implication for the therapy we do involves the polarities that exist for the adolescent. The major developmental task of the adolescent is to separate and individuate.
