Page - 76 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

76 Psychosexual development in puberty promised James she would keep his assignment private so that he could freely write what he felt, untrammelled and uncensored. It was quite disturbing for her to read what he wrote, and by implication the emotional baggage he con- stantly carried with him. An accompanying therapy is essential for enabling James to speak about his threatening aggressive fantasies, to act them out in play and work through them. H. did not speak about James’ assignment with him, since she was neither willing nor able to assume any therapeutic position. However, she managed to understand what James was struggling with behind his passivity. In the same lesson, James was the little kitten fed by his mother and brave enough to climb up the high tree. The kitten had a caring mother who wanted him in the house by dark. Later we learn that James has two cats at home. When the teacher asks if he has photos of his cats, he answers: “I have hundreds! The whole wall is full of cat photos.” At school, James managed to improve his capacity for showing his friendly side, and we can assume that the therapist has succeeded in working through and newly ordering his dark and threatening feelings in therapy. Now, another excerpt from a subsequent Work Discussion transcript: For the first time, James has had no absences – on the contrary: he actively participates in class, takes up social contact to his fellow students, and does not draw attention to himself in any untoward way as far as I can see. His clothing is currently mostly dark or black, but his behavior seems to be anything but dark: he laughs, moves around in an unfettered way (at least that’s my impression) and with youthful grace. In the breaks . . . he jokes with G., I., St. and occasionally also with another boy. He pays no attention to girls yet. He even seems to like gym class, which he had formerly avoided. Although the games could make him aggressive due to their competitive character and the boys’ roughhousing, James does not fall out of the picture when he is in the middle of it. He also accepts the referee’s decisions without reacting particularly. For the last two weeks, he shows up at school extremely punctually. Before, you could set your watch from James: exactly 8:00 when he walked in the door, and without a hint of hurry . . . he would leisurely take his shoes and jacket off. Often he was right behind the teacher herself. But the last two weeks, he came 15 minutes before class began. In his homeroom, he takes his seat and participates in conversations with friends. I can’t escape the impres- sion that James has grown into the community . . . he accomplishes assign- ments swiftly and without dawdling, without distracting himself through chattering. Until recently, he was easily distracted. In the last two drawing classes, the students were asked to collect ideas for a bizarre object. James doesn’t seem able to concentrate on one bizarre object – he pasted five different little montages together on his paper. In my opinion, they do not reflect a peaceful inner world: one picture shows Gulliver