A psychoanalytical approach to integrating family and individual therapy in the treatment of adolescents: A case study

An integrated model of object relations family therapy and a self psychology-oriented individual therapy is presented in the form of a case study of an adolescent. The therapy strives to create and negotiate a balance between deconstructing the family's defensive delineations of the adolescent and helping him to form new building blocks of self-representation. The integrated model both highlights and adeptly addresses the unavoidable adolescent issue of conflicted loyalty between self and family as reflected in the adolescent's internal and external psychological world.