ABSTRACT
Joseph Noshpitz’s theory and his way of conceptualizing the processes involved have evolved over many years, particularly in relation to the treatment of a number of difficult and resistant patients. The type of patient Noshpitz was particularly concerned with in the following chapter is the sort of youngster who appears to be unwilling or unable to recognize an “inner demon,” an unconscious critic within, that is manifested by self-destructive behavior. In putting forward his ideas, generated from years of clinical practice and consulting in a drug rehabilitation center for teenagers, Noshpitz uses a developmental perspective that derives from the psychoanalytic writings of Sigmund Freud, Otto Kernberg, Edith Jacobson, and Margaret Mahler.
