Candor, Connection, and Enterprise in Adolescent Therapy

Janet Sasson Edgette should have been fictitious adolescent Holden Caulfield's therapist. On the evidence of her new book, she is one of those rare adults who understands adolescents' obsession with all things "phony." She writes with chatty authority about what the experience of therapy feels like for teens, mapping the many shoals on which adolescent therapy can founder.Edgette is savvy about teens' reluctance to participate in therapy. She recognizes that they don't trust the therapist and that they find the entire process hopelessly contrived, potentially pointless, yet vaguely threatening. She knows too that therapists frequently make this bad situation worse by trying too hard to make teen clients like them, or taking on too much of the responsibility for making therapy work."Maybe the most important part of our job as therapists to unhappy teenagers is to reinstate a measure of faith in their pleasure at letting a kind adult really get to know them, and allowing themselves to be told what they need to hear, " she writes. Some of the essential steps toward that goal include being mindful of the teen client's need to save face, and instinctive radar for therapeutic artifice.The book has no theoretical pretensions and consists primarily of tips and case commentary. Still, a kind of philosophy of treatment does emerge - one based on mutual respect, subtle but definite boundaries, and creative responses to the challenges inherent in doing therapy with teens. For clinicians who feel deficient in this last respect, the chapter on "Troubleshooting Individual Session Impasses" will be especially helpful.Book Review by Jim NaughtonPsychotherapy Networker September/October, 2002

This book was exactly what I needed. As a therapist-in-training, I am working mostly with adolescents. I felt that I needed a little guidance and a few suggestions in how to keep things going. Dr. Edgette's honesty, realism, and simplicity in dealing with teens makes perfect sense. I continue to watch other therapists continue to tell adolescents what they "should" be doing and not listening and comprehending where they are coming from. This book not only helped me by showing me what to do in most situations, but confirmed that I am on the right track in many ways. My only disappointment was that the book wasn't longer! Thanks to Dr. Edgette for a realistic, effective approach to use with teenagers.