Page - 72 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

72 Psychosexual development in puberty himself as a person separate from his mother. Presumably he was convinced that his omnipotent fantasies of completely possessing his mother had come to pass, since he was the only man in the family and he slept in the same bed with her. In a ordinary family, these child wishes fail to become reality since the mother and father are seen as a sexual pair, and consequentially a healthy separation from the children comes to pass. When James’ mother took up a new relationship, he was seven. Suddenly and without his participation, he was cruelly driven from the marital bed. We are not familiar with the details of his inner world, since we have no data from his therapeutic or psychiatric diagnosis. His inability to experience himself as his own person led to a psychotic episode, causing his violent outbreak and his admission to a psychiatric ward. The solution of moving to his grandmother’s was on the one hand helpful, since he was removed from the new family situation that had so infuriated him, but on the other hand, his rage and desperation seem to have only increased: now, he was not only a fatherless child, but also a son who had suddenly – and, as he perhaps felt, definitively – lost his fantasized position by his mother. From his perspective, he was truly “abandoned”. When the seminar group reflected on whether H. should commit herself to help- ing James, it became clear that this would only be possible if James’ massive psychic problems could be treated through psychotherapy. Summary of psychoanalytic -pedagogical aid for James until puberty The point of departure in the Work Discussion Group3 here for discussing James was his refusal to attend school, which H. had also discussed with James’ grand- mother. Since H. was the only person James would talk to, she visited him at home with his grandparents. She was surprised that he was willing to speak with her, established eye contact and told her many things about himself. Shortly after her visit, another escalation occurred: James attacked his grandmother with a knife. Since he refused to go to a psychiatric hospital and also threatened suicide, his mother and stepfather decided to take him back. The close contact between the mother and H., who called her daily to report James’ failure to attend school, constituted an important support (containment) for the mother. In the Work Discussion Group, participants reflected on possibilities for affording access to school for James. His teacher H. suggested to the mother that James could send in his three assignments via email, and James not only accepted but sent in the assignments three days later. They all received As, and this enabled him to gradu- ate that year. He was allowed to choose the subjects of these assignments, and they demonstrated the turbulence of his inner world. His biology paper was about sharks, his history paper was about Pompeii and his geography paper was about volcanos. To everyone’s surprise, James appeared at school for the graduation ceremony.