ABSTRACT
The adolescent poses a unique issue. Typically, parents do not seek treatment for an adolescent who is "doing the usual acting out" of teenage years, such as not listening, failing to observe curfews, or not complying with household and school duties. In therapy, the teen must able to trust enough to connect to the therapist. It is through conversations with the therapist that the adolescent is guided to face thoughts, feelings and behaviors so as to find solutions to dysfunctional patterns. The therapist and adolescent must work together to discern each family member's role in creating the dilemmas. Trust, peers and power continue to play a role in the adolescent's development, though in a way that differs from how they were experienced in childhood. When coupled with the physical and psychological changes of adolescence, the influence of trust, peers and power can either strengthen or disable a teen from accomplishing the necessary mastery of skills in this life stage.
