Crossing the Bridge: Jungian Approach to Adolescence - The reality of the psyche series (Hardback)

In this psychological study, a Jungian analyst develops a new way of looking at adolescence, through a study of two case histories: Maria, a "problem child" suffering from depression and failures at school, and Martin, a rebellious youth troubled by suicidal impulses. Both young people, in their very different ways, become whole in the therapeutic process, using dream analysis and sandplay to journey into the depths, sympathetically guided by the analyst who relates their stories with perceptiveness and wisdom. Puberty is a time of danger, when the adolescent hangs, unprotected, in the vacuum created between the detachment from the intimate security of childhood and the integration of adulthood. Adolescence is therefore a precursor for transitions of every sort. Many young people crash into the drug world or do violence to themselves in other irreparable ways. The weakened sense of reality can be the basis for a first phase of schizophrenia - adolescence may even be seen as a more or less mild form of schizophrenia. This edition also contains three additional essays: "The Body as Mirror: Psychosomatics in Childhood and Adolescence"; "Children Change Parents"; and "Death and Transformation".