Main description:

The period of adolescence can be a time of great creativity, as new intellectual capacities emerge, and as the individual adolescent attempts to make sense out of inner and outer experience. Volume 30 of Adolescent Psychiatry addresses the ways in which adolescent experience is transmuted into creative artistic production, as well as focuses on the relationship between creativity and psychopathology, and treatment for troubled adolescents.

With the links between adolescence and creativity in mind, the volume opens with an in-depth examination of a young boy's creation of his own story of Polyphemus. This is followed by a fresh look at the adolescent influences behind Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. The next ten chapters comprise a special section devoted to creative solutions to some of the most challenging facing adolescent psychiatry. Here, numerous relevant studies are presented and conclusions drawn, as a whole addressing topics such as: an innovative residential treatment program for gifted adolescents who have failed academically and rejected previous attempts at treatment; motivational interviewing, a technique employed in the effort to find common ground between the therapist and patient; the importance of understanding adolescent sexuality and how to approach the topic with patients in an appropriate manner; and a discussion of the registration, commitment, and assessment of juvenile sex offenders. A final section investigates problematic examples of reactive attachment disorder, as well as treatment-refractory adolescent schizophrenia - when the medication doesn't work.

Volume 30 of Adolescent Psychiatry continues the wide-ranging scholarship and analytic sensibility that has been the hallmark of the series. Literary and artistic criticism reside comfortably between empirical research and case studies, all working together to broaden the horizon of research and application of psychiatric technique and theory for adolescence.

Contents:

Flaherty, Editor's Introduction. Part I: Adolescent Development and Creativity.Krumer-Nevo, Mythology, Sexuality, Aggressiveness: Adolescence and Creativity. Brockman, Gustav Klimt (1862-1918): Arrested Adolescent Development in a Revolutionary Artist. Part II: Special Section: Difficult Challenges, Creative Solutions.Rosner, The William A. Schonfeld Address: Saving Adolescents. Williamson, Bell, Dwyer, Frierson, Toward a Better Juvenile Justice System: A City-state Partnership. Frierson, Dwyer, Bell, Williamson, The Mandatory Registration of Juvenile Sex Offenders and Commitment of Juveniles as Sexually Violent Predators: Controversies and Recommendations. Dwyer, Bell, Frierson, Williamson, Use of Assessment Data for Research in Juvenile Justice: An Exploratory Study of Sex Offenders. Bratter, Sinsheimer, Kaufman, Alter, Residential Treatment for Gifted and Self-destructive Adolescents: The John Dewey Academy. Bratter, Advocacy: Its Impact on the Treatment Alliance with Gifted, Self-destructive, and Drug-abusing Adolescents. Bratter, Sinsheimer, Confrontation: A Potent Psychotherapeutic Technique with Difficult Adolescents. Flaherty, What's Old is New: Motivational Interviewing for Adolescents. Feinberg, Adolescent Choice in Disputed Custody: The Role of the Forensic Psychiatric Consultant. Harmon, Talking About Sexual Side Effects: Countering Don't Ask Don't Tell. Part III: When Clinical Skills Are Not Enough: Psychiatric Enigmas.Kemph, Voeller, Reactive Attachment Disorders in Adolescence. Stahl, Shapiro, Hertzig, Turchin, When Clozapine Doesn't Work: Two Case Reports of Treatment-refractory Adolescent Schizophrenia. Sugar, Discussion of "When Clozapine Doesn't Work: Two Case Reports of Treatment-refractory Adolescent Schizophrenia". Stahl, Shapiro, Hertzig, Turchin, Drs. Stahl et al. Respond to Dr. Sugar's Discussion.