ABSTRACT
Within the literature there is a controversy regarding how much, if any, parent-therapist contact should take place in the course of treating an adolescent. Parent-therapist contact is thought to interfere with the adolescent's development of a therapeutic alliance, as well as with confidentiality and autonomy I believe that, when one is working with a disturbed adolescent who presents high-risk behavior, such as extensive substance abuse or unsafe sex, some parent-therapist contact becomes necessary. Some case material illustrates this proposition.
