ABSTRACT
From the progressive abandonment of adolescence, adult life begins, to which we can ascribe logical but not chronological time. The identity reorganization of the adolescent checks the narcissistic bases as it will bring with it the disinvestment of children’s objects; this will imply the gradual realization of their life project, with the consequent rearrangement of their place in the family, employment, economic independence, reconciliation with the body, as well as the assumption of new commitments and responsibilities. These aspects, emerging from the intricacy of the link between the ideals (achieved to a greater or lesser degree) and the identification processes that are settling (beyond the dynamism that is inherent to them), accomplish the constitution of a sufficiently stable identity and character, capable of promoting a psychic organization after the difficult work of adolescent transit. An identity encloses the paradox (Ladame, 1999) of being a precondition for recognizing and accepting otherness and, in turn, being a guarantor of reassuring preservation of subjectivity, abandoning the aspiration to the illusory ubiquity. I believe these frequent attacks bring us closer to the need to elaborate a new duel as a stone guest: this time, for lost adolescence, an idealized time of freedom, of budding potentiality, of life among peers, and continuous discovery. I will include two illustrative clinical vignettes.
