Citation

Wawrzyniak M, Reulet JL, Schmit G. Neuropsychiatr. Enfance Adolesc. 2000; 48(2): 113-121.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

The study of the feeling of reality to adolescents made us interested in the act of 'realization' which leads each of us to make the real a reality, his or her psychic reality. In reply to the immaturity which characterizes adolescence, Winnicott recommends that we give ourselves the time indispensable to maturation: 'There is only one cure for adolescence and in fact the time passes while the adolescent passes to the adult state.' In the field of developmental clinical psychology for this age, this proposal is in discord with, among other factors, the emergency states which impose the temptation to withdraw from the world, such as the suicidal epic. It is not possible to just wait when confronted with these passages to an act which constitutes so many formal warnings addressed to others and demands responses. Between respect of the adolescent's immaturity and respect for his potentials, what is the correct distance a psychiatrist should take in order to remain a 'vigilant witness' of these two elements and of their evolution and finally to become, for the suicidal adolescent, a 'realization assistant'. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescence; alertness; article; clinical psychology; doctor patient relation; evolution; expert witness; human; recall; responsibility; risk factor; suicide; Suicide; Therapy