Some clinical applications of religious development in adolescence

The use of religion in the lives of adolescents to repair problematic or disrupted attachments is discussed in the context of attachment theory and Kohut's self-psychology theory, with particular reference to the self-object. It is proposed that adolescents do not seek to break ties with parents or adults so much as to revise their relationships in a more adult direction. Two adolescent cases, one beginning treatment in childhood and the other in early adolescence, are presented and discussed in the context of attachment theory and self-psychology.