In this volume and its companion Adolescence: The Crises of Adjustment, originally published in 1975, members of the Adolescent Department at the Tavistock Clinic and of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, together with other leading experts on the subject, present a unique study of adolescence.

Of all living species only human beings go through a period of adolescence – and because the conflicting influences that adolescents encounter both within themselves and in the outside world are so complex, even normal adolescence is a time of crises and adjustment.

While Adolescence: The Crises of Adjustment is devoted to the dynamics and complexities of 'normal adolescence', the present volume traces what happens when the crises of adolescence are not sufficiently well negotiated. The topics debated and explored include: emotional conflicts; educational drop-outs; social conflict; delinquency; acting-out, rebellion and violence; drugs; depression and suicide; individual treatment; family therapy.