A developmental approach to diagnosis and treatment in a transitional living program

We hope that the reader has been able to vicariously share with us in the excitement of work in a transitional living program. The young people with whom we share this environment stand on the threshold of adult life. They have suffered medical, psychological, environmental, and social insults. Psychosocial developmental assessment helps us define the details of threats to the foundations of adult personality functioning. These young men and women are woefully unprepared for self-care, social interaction, occupational choice, and adult personal relationships. The premise of transitional living is that relationship-based milieu therapy,guided by psychoanalytic develop mental principles, provides an opportunity to heal these conflicted and immature young people to a degree that can tip the scale of their future lives toward productivity, self-esteem, and commitment. Like residential therapy, transitional living provides milieu therapy, corrective education, and psychotherapy. Unlike residential therapy, transitional living is also embedded in the urban community. It facilitates the transition from dependent childhood to independent living by intensive work with the psychological conflicts and physical and social barriers to success in making this important step.