Adolescence and borderline pathology: characteristics of the relevant psychoanalytic process

This paper results from a research project on the specific characteristics of borderline adolescents and their analysability. An in-depth understanding of the adolescent process is considered essential because it is superimposed on the specific pathology of the borderline subject. Our cases agree in almost all respects with symptomatologies described in the international literature, although pronounced differences emerge in regard to serious acting out and behavioural disturbances. Separation processes, particularly from the mother, are very important in both cases presented. In the authors' view, this research shows that borderline adolescents constitute a definite clinical reality and that strict psychoanalytic technique can be used successfully with them.