The Adolescent Journey: Development, Identity Formation, and Psychotherapy

MARSHA LEVY-WARREN, PH.D: The Adolescent Journey: Development, Identity Formation, and Psychotherapy. Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, NJ, and London, 1996, 359 pages, $45.00, ISBN 1-56821-546-0. In The Adolescent Journey, Dr. Levy-Warren provides a useful developmental perspective on three phases of adolescence-the early phase beginning with pubescence, accompanied by beginning separation from the family; a peeroriented middle phase with the focus on sexual-identity establishment; and a late adolescent phase with identity consolidation and the formation of a more mature ego-ideal. The author makes an especially helpful contribution in reviewing both the physiological and psychological changes of adolescence, highlighting in early adolescence the differences between male and female puberty and the assimilation of masturbation experiences. Examples of psychosexual development are presented from literature, such as Jamaica Kincaid's work, as are points from pertinent psychoanalytic theoretical papers, including the work of Hans Loewald. The groundwork of clinical theory as the basis for thoughtful clinical intervention is laid out. In the discussion of middle adolescence, gender consolidation is discussed, and clinical vignettes related to sexual experimentation with peers are presented. The anxiety and urgency of this teen individuation process comes out best in these vignettes. The author's active, clarifying, and educating style in therapy with teens emerges here. In the sections about late adolescence, there is edifying clinical material on a male teenager's struggle to accept his own limitations when forming a healthier ego-ideal. In a chapter on ethnocultural identity, the important role of culture and group affiliation for the late adolescent in furthering both separation and individuation is well explicated. Clinical examples highlight how individuals cope with senses of estrangement or difference from others. Respect for the fact that adolescent development is an uneven process, despite the well-laid-out specificity of phases, is made clear. In the psychotherapy section of the book, the "Adolescent Psychotherapy" chapter gives an overview on the phases of therapy and demonstrates how the therapist connects with the teenager, keeps therapy interesting, observes, shows concern, uses humor, educates, and encourages phase-appropriate growth and development. The next chapter, on subphase considerations with bulimia, seems less compelling, especially when conceptualizations derived from psychoanalytic drive-theory are introduced but not well supported by the clinical material. The heart of the psychotherapy portion of the book is in the presentation of three cases in chapters eight to ten. Interestingly, each case presents a different history of trauma. The author as therapist is particularly adept at appreciating and sensitively working with issues of trauma and loss within a traditional exploratory therapeutic framework. With the early adolescent, Maggie, traumatized by shards of a plate thrown by her mother, a positive transference, with positive identifications with her therapist, is used by Maggie to facilitate disidentification with her mother, and allows her adolescent development to progress. With Kevin, chronologically a middle adolescent, with arrested self-differentiation, progress was more difficult. Kevin had been subjected to multiple moves, physical trauma, had witnessed sex between his mother and stepfather, and had a history of fighting and break-ins. …