A Severe Form of Breakdown in Communication in the Psychoanalysis of an ill Adolescent

Uses clinical material from the analysis of a suicidal & self-mutilating 17-yr-old male to illustrate a core breakdown in communication in suicidal or psychotic adolescents. The types of breakdowns in communication that may arise at various points of an analysis are discussed. In terms of the ill adolescent, the core pathology needs to be experienced in the transference for treatment to be effective, & the way this may occur is in a breakdown of communication. (12 refs.)