A Two-Systems Engagement with the Psychoanalytic Model of Adolescence

ABSTRACT

In this paper the authors address the strengths of the traditional psychoanalytic model of adolescence, but suggest that it applies mainly to disturbed young people and misrepresents the majority of well-functioning adolescents. This blurs distinctions between normality and pathology, affecting diagnosis and clinical technique, promoting as well a skewed image of the phase in the general culture. To redress this difficulty, the authors propose revision and elaboration of the classical model through the addition of a perspective based on a developmental model of two systems of self-regulation that effectively describes the full range of functioning and generates a wider repertoire of techniques. Using data from 38 published cases, they counter some traditional premises, demonstrating that psychoanalysis can be the treatment of choice for disturbed adolescents, as it is highly effective, accepted by most adolescents and their parents when it includes concurrent parent work, and can be brought to proper termination with improved outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• analyzability
• empirical data
• two-systems model
• separation
• transformation
• therapeutic alliance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See also the discussion of Teenism: The prejudice against adolescents in this volume (J. Novick and K. K. Novick 2023).

2. Detailed description and discussion of the co-existing psychoanalytic formulations of single-track and dual-track theories of development can be found throughout our writings on two systems of self-regulation, a model that derives from a dual-track conceptualization. See particularly (J. Novick and K. K. Novick 2001a, 2016).

3. For a more comprehensive discussion of our understanding of transformation in adolescent development, please see Dowling et al. (2013).

4. We relate the growth principle also to Anna Freud's idea of treatment being directed to restoration to the path pf progressive development (1965).

5. The unique format of anonymity in these two Casebooks contributes to authenticity in the accounts.

6. These cases are described in various Novick publications, such as “Working With Parents Makes Therapy Work,” Parent Work Casebook, Adolescent Casebook, Parent Work papers in JICAP, PSC, Annual of Psychoanalysis, and others.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kerry Kelly Novick

Kerry Kelly Novick is a Training and Supervising Analyst of the International Psychoanalytic Association. On the faculties of numerous institutes, she was formerly Lecturer in Psychoanalysis, University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry, President of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis, a founder of Allen Creek Preschool, and Chair of the IPA’s Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis. She served as a Director-at-Large for the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Jack Novick

Jack Novick, Ph.D is a Training and Supervising Analyst of the International Psychoanalytic Association and on the faculties of numerous institutes. Formerly Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology, Departments of Psychiatry at University of Michigan and Wayne State University, he also chaired the Child Psychoanalysis Training at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute and is a founder of Allen Creek Preschool. He has served on the Board of the International Psychoanalytic Association, and was President of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis.