ABSTRACT
Sam's hostile early environment and the lack of affect-regulative interactions had interfered with his social and emotional development led to a negative world view and compromised his ability to form safe and secure attachment bonds. Sam's avoidance to forming a working alliance was both a re-enactment of earlier modes of interpersonal relations and a form of communication. It was his way to convey how he was made to feel and how he managed to survive when his basic needs for love and empathic attunement were not met; when unable to physically fight his way out of the situation or run away from his hostile environment, the only choice was to freeze and cast off his relational needs. Provocative behaviour is often how emotionally wounded teenagers express what words cannot convey, the shame and the fear they endured in their formative years.
