Candor, Connection, and Enterprise in Adolescent Therapy

Book excerpt: Therapists trying too hard to appeal to their uncooperative adolescent clients risk losing cases before they are even underway. These kids are quick to pick up on the therapist who tries too hard to be helpful, be liked, make conversation, not get upset. So worried is the therapist about saying the 'wrong' thing, that he or she may wind up saying too little that is useful. With credibility compromised, the adolescent loses faith in the therapist. The client withdraws into silence, becomes sarcastic, or makes fun to show disinterest, even contempt. Some therapists counter with urgent appeals for reason or insight; others may become self-conscious or more gratuitous toward the client. Some get frustrated and simply blame the adolescent, attributing the problem to 'resistance.'Candor, Connection, and Enterprise in Adolescent Therapy speaks about a different way of relating to our adolescent clients in therapy. Focusing on establishing relationships between therapist and adolescent that are genuine and unaffected, and on bringing about conversation that is candid, forthright, and emotionally moving, this book offers therapists a different way to help disengaged or uncooperative young clients and their family members find dignified, face-saving ways out of their problems. It teaches that holding adolescents accountable for their actions and choices is just as important as providing compassion for their plights, but underscores how essential it is that the therapist refrain from imposing injunctions in order to best facilitate change. Case examples and stories from the author? practice are used liberally throughout the book to illustrate how therapists can successfully navigate difficult therapeutic encounters and avert the power struggles and 'going-nowhere' dialogues that thwart them and bore their young clients.