ABSTRACT
This chapter explores adolescence as a transitory world, drawing upon psychoanalytic writings on adolescence and transience. It discusses the psychoanalytic and psychosocial principles underlying the treatment programme for adolescents at the Cassel Hospital. Adolescence is a time of transitions. The Oxford Reference Dictionary defines "transit" as a process of going, conveying, or being conveyed across, over, or through. The Adolescent Service at the Cassel Hospital was set up specifically to cater for the clinical needs of 16- to 21-year-olds who fell between child and adult services. The inpatient psychotherapeutic community is comprised of the Families Unit, the Adult Unit, and the Adolescent Unit, which together form the working therapeutic community. It is a hugely important time in the life of an individual, but, like all time, is transitory. The world of the adolescent is a truly transitory world.
