Self-Destruction and Countertransference Reactions in Adolescent Psychotherapy: A Psychoanalytic Case Report
Self-Destruction and Countertransference Reactions in Adolescent Psychotherapy: A Psychoanalytic Case Report

Summary/Abstract: Self-destruction behaviors in adolescents constitute a serious mental health problem. Several psychoanalysts and psychodynamic theorists have long attempted to understand the desire of self-destruction. Suicidal adolescents often elicit strong countertransference reactions from therapists. These reactions fluctuate from the belief that the therapist should be the perfect object that will relieve the suffering teenager to the openly hostile stance by the therapist. The awareness and working-through of representations and emotions produced by the patient in the analyst’s mind facilitates further understanding of transference phenomena. The present psychoanalytic case report of a suicidal adolescent tries to illustrate some aspects of these complex reactions. The psychodynamic approaches can contribute significantly to the diagnostic access and the treatment of adolescents after a suicide attempt.

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