Time-limited Adolescent Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Developmentally Focussed Psychotherapy For Young People

“In this excellent book, Professor Briggs draws on his extensive experience of working with adolescents and their families. The book outlines and illustrates, with useful clinical examples, the brief psychoanalytic therapy approach that he developed and manualised whilst working at the Tavistock Clinic. In the context of the increase in mental health difficulties in adolescence, this approach provides a much needed developmentally sensitive and in-depth brief therapy model. Highly recommended to clinicians working with adolescents.” —Prof. Alessandra Lemma, Consultant, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Psychoanalysis Unit, UCL “This important and useful book sets time-limited work with adolescents and young adults in the context of both the specifics of time-limited work and the particulars of working with young adults. The author sets the work firmly in the developmental process, which characterises this stage of life. Using the TAPP model, he shows how this work can be transformative for a young adult, and at times for the therapist too. He uses many case illustrations, which help the reader to have a lively experience of the work and its value. This book is of use to clinicians working therapeutically with young adults, and for those who offer time-limited work with any age group. It is also of interest to any thinker who wants to explore this part of the human condition and the challenges of becoming a person.” —Jan McGregor Hepburn, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Registrar, BPC “It was a wonderful and thoroughly rewarding experience to immerse myself in this important book. I enjoyed learning so much about short-term therapies in general and the workings of TAPP. I particularly valued the clinical examples which were easy to understand and made the theoretical discussions come alive. It is a remarkable book about a very useful intervention for young people in distress.” —Mark J. Goldblatt, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, PT, Harvard Medical School; Clinical Associate, McLean Hospital; Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute “Adolescent mental health is one of the pressing public health issues of our time. Yet contrary to accepted belief, young people do not present with neat diagnostic categories but complex issues best understood within a developmental and psychosocial context. With a foundation in psychoanalytic thinking and clinical work, Professor Stephen Briggs provides a rich and detailed understanding of adolescence in chapters that span development and pathology, the rationale for brief work, therapeutic priorities, growth and change and endings. The book provides a guide to using TAPP for practitioners in training and psychother