Listening to the Transition: Adolescent to Adult. Issue 1 (31st March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chused, Judith Fingert
• Is Part Of: Psychoanalytic study of the child. Volume 70:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 63
• Page End: 73
• Publication Date: 2017-03-31
• Subjects: Adolescence -- identity formation -- analytic listening; Child analysis -- Periodicals; Child Psychiatry; Psychology, Child; Psychoanalysis; Enfants -- Psychanalyse; Child analysis; Psychoanalyse; Kinderen; Kinderanalyse; Aufsatzsammlung; Periodicals; Periodicals; 155.4; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1080/00797308.2016.1277677
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0079-7308

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The process of disidentification from parental figures that begins in adolescence often results in considerable confusion of thought and emotions. Difficulty with this developmental step is a major factor in the young adult's need for analytic treatment. Patients unable to complete the second stage of separation-individuation come to treatment either still fighting with their parents or relying too heavily on their direction. During the course of an analysis of a young adult, the analyst is confronted with a patient alternately complaining about his or her parents or idealizing them, speaking as if their words and desires could not be questioned. A major task for the analyst will be to discern to whom the patient listens to inside his or her head: the people, past and present, who live as images with demands and needs; the people to whom the patient speaks when he or she speaks to the analyst; and the people for whom the patient is still performing. The analysis of a young man is presented to illustrate this analytic challenge.