ABSTRACT
‘Only the most courageous, or perhaps the most foolish, therapists are willing to treat adolescents, for they are the most difficult group of children with whom to work’ (Spiegel 1989, p. 130). This age group is difficult because there are certain technical differences that arise from the developmental peculiarities of this period. Some time around the age of 12 years children begin to be confronted with changes that will shape them for the rest of their lives. As noted in chapter 6, the security of being identified with the family begins to lessen as the tasks of autonomy and identity come to the fore. The holding and containment of infancy and childhood are gradually reduced. The loss of this external holding now exposes the quality and nature of this previous containment, and how well it has been internalised and integrated into the young person’s sense of self.
