Treatment of the disturbed adolescent: A family system approach

Abstract

Adolescence is a period of turbulence for the young person as well as his family. This particular transition phase requires changes of adaptation for all family members to facilitate the unique needs of growth of the adolescent. This article will discuss certain characteristics and factors which make some families more vulnerable in this period: e.g., a family's structure, catastrophic or unusual events within or outside the family, regardless of whether they occur in the present or have taken place in the past. Case examples are given to illustrate how a systemically oriented family therapy approach can enable these families to become “unstuck”, resulting in the adolescent's ability to enter the next life phase, and the family's achieving once again a new equilibrium.