The following 3 papers explore contextual variations in adolescent treatment. The first paper is from our colleagues in Italy. It was originally presented as part of a panel hosted by the IAPSP Child and Adolescent Initiative co-organized by Marco Bernabei, PhD, Ingrid Pedroni PhD, Tali Tamir-Oron, MA, Jackie Gotthold, PsyD and Dori Sorter, PhD, at the 37th IAPSP Annual International Conference in Jerusalem, Israel, October 2014. The panel, entitled “Home is Where It All Stops, Starts and Changes: Working with Children, Adolescents and their Parents,” included presentations of three models of coordinated treatments with adolescents and their parents by three international teams of clinicians. Bernabei and Pedroni presented their collaboration from Rome, Italy.
The second paper is from our Japanese colleague, Kazunori Nakanishi, MA, with a discussion by Amy Joelson, LCSW. Nakanishi describes the treatment of a hospitalized adolescent girl with mutism in which the context of the hospital influences the style of the treatment. His paper was originally given as part of an intensive one-week seminar at The Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, in New York City in July 2016, as part of the Distance Learning Program at IPSS. In Nakanishi’s words, “I came to New York with my colleagues of JFPSP (The Japanese Forum for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, Hiroshima, Japan) to participate in a one-week seminar at IPSS. At that time Amy Joelson invited me to present to Jackie Gotthold the case of an adolescent girl. I am now happy to present this case in detail. It is ultimately delightful to experience what we cannot gain in daily life, which I have experienced in IPSS.” Joelson’s discussion highlights the function of humor and spontaneity in this treatment - for both analyst and patient. She brings an awareness of cross-cultural influences within the therapeutic dyad as well as the reader’s need to be aware of parallel cross-cultural issues in understanding the case.
Coordinated Treatments of Adolescents and Their Parents: Working Together in Italy
Marco Bernabei, Ph.D and Ingrid Pedroni, Ph.D
Using Humor in the Treatment of an Adolescent Girl with Mutism: A Case from Japan
Kazunori Nakanishi, MA
Meow, Meow, Meow, Face is Funny Now? Discussion of Nakanishi’s “Using Humor in the Treatment of an Adolescent Girl With Mutism: A Case from Japan”
Amy Joelson, LCSW