Page - 1 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

Puberty is a time of tumultuous transition from childhood to adulthood. This trans- formative developmental spurt is activated by rapid physical changes, hormonal development and the explosive activity of neurons. My book will describe both this physical development and the typically adolescent “state of mind” – something that can remain active long after adolescence is over. When the child attains inde- pendence, this developmental step demands a difficult balancing act from parents: they must be able to release their child without cutting their ties to him. Thus, accompanying an adolescent through adolescence constitutes a difficult emotional task for parents and teachers, although this development is also a quite “normal drama”. This “normal state of crisis” lasts several years, with the teenager oscil- lating between childlike tendencies and his desire to become an adult. The more parents succeed in recognizing and experiencing these new challenges as an inte- gral, ineluctable emotional transformative process, the more they can allow their children to become independent. In addition, parents will ultimately be enriched when they can also see this often painful crisis as a chance for their own further development: they can face up to their own aging as they take leave of youth with its myriad possibilities, accepting and working through a newfound rivalry with their sexually mature children, thus experiencing a process of maturity, which in turn can set an example for their children. In parents’ interaction with children, the quality of a marital relationship is also important. Are they truly a creative, Oedipal, loving couple, capable both of love and of taking opposing positions? Can they support one another and master this turbulent time together? First, let us clarify the often diffuse concepts of puberty and adolescence. “Puberty” is derived from the Latin word “pubertas”, meaning sexual maturity and/or capacity, and refers to the period when the child’s body transforms into an adult body capable of reproduction. This process of physical change is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain transmitted to the female ovaries and male testicles. With both genders, secondary sexual characteristics also develop during this period. For girls, puberty begins with the first menstruation between the ages of nine and eleven, and is concluded between the ages of sixteen to seventeen; with boys, puberty begins with the production of fertile sperm between the ages of eleven and twelve, and is concluded between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. Introduction