Page - 69 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

Psychosexual development in puberty 69 Elfi begins to trust herself enough to have a crush on a real boy, as can be seen in this excerpt from a session: Elfi takes her pad and draws: I (heart) him. Analyst: You want to make me curious who “he” is. Elfi: His name is Marcel, his parents are from France. I’ve had a crush on him for six months already. But I spoke to him once in the streetcar. He sat next to me when everyone got out. From outside, he drew a heart and wrote my name. I was so excited that I wanted to get up and leave. Analyst: You are very happy that you can speak to me about him and know every- thing will be kept in confidence here. What do you like about him? Elfi: He is beautiful inside and outside. Five people already know. . . . I knocked down a boy who called me fat. I’m really proud of that. Analyst: You are happy you can defend yourself. Elfi is afraid of her feelings, but now has the confidence to resist her impulse to run away. She has enough trust in her analyst to speak about this. At the same time, she expresses her wish to stop analysis. She thinks that ending analysis means growing up. At the same time, she is overwhelmed by strong feelings of being in love: she feels dizzy and stays home for two days. She can relate her experience with Marcel, but not yet reflect what it means to her, how glad and fearful she is. She talks as if she is lovesick. She rejects my interpretation; she would rather be physically ill, since the mother is constantly speaking of physical illness. Elfi is actually sick from longing; Marcel says he likes her, but nothing has happened yet. She is skeptical as to whether her mother will allow her to be loved. Marcel is affectionate and attentive, just as she finds her analyst to be. She links her adolescent transition to the question of whether I will allow her to leave me. Do I trust her to master her life without analysis? Her wish to end analysis also has a manic quality – as if she could relinquish all the powers that hold her back, leaving them with me. Her adolescent development in the direction of independence expresses itself in missing sessions. She begins to dress better and also looks better; she has a positive self -image of her body and is able to move in a relaxed way. She has a well -developed sense of reality and can accurately assess her own (intellectually very modest) achievement. For me it is also important to recognize and accept the real limit posed by her handicapped intelligence, even given the progress she has made. With great effort and daily tutoring, she manages to graduate from the non -academic high school. In analysis sessions, however, she is hardly obtuse; she can empathize very well with other people, observe fashion models and iden- tify their differences to her own body. Unlike her mother, she no longer allows herself to fall into depression. Through her identification with her analyst, she is able to develop a positive self -image and formulate her wishes (she wants to work with animals or plants). Nevertheless, there remains an inner voice that seeks to oppress her wishes. Her relationship to her father – whom she earlier rejected