Psychoanalysis and the Forward Edge Hit the Streets: The Analytic Service to Adolescents Program (ASAP)

Abstract

This article describes the Analytic Service to Adolescents Program (ASAP), a joint psychoanalytic treatment and research project of Morton Alternative High School (MAS) and the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. ASAP provides individual and group treatment for students expelled from the regular high school for aggressive behavior, drug use, and gang-related activity. In addition, the program provides consultation to parents and teachers to more effectively parent and educate students.

A forward edge approach, based upon certain self-psychological concepts developed by Heinz Kohut and Marian Tolpin, while addressing trauma, focuses on strengthening self-esteem and ambitions in these adolescents. Two clinical vignettes are presented, illustrating how this approach has proved effective in reducing anxiety and depression, while increasing regulation of affect allowing for greater cognitive and general functioning.

Notes

Mark D. Smaller, Ph.D., is Founding Director of the Analytic Service to Adolescents Program and is in full-time psychoanalytic practice with adults, adolescents, and children in Chicago and southwest Michigan. He is also Director of the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation. He has also recently created Great Expectations, an in-school treatment program in Saugatuck, Michigan, based on ASAP principles.