[Adolescence today: a clinician's viewpoint on adolescent violence]

Violence during adolescence, whether self-oriented or directed towards others, is becoming a public health concern. Clinical reports on these difficult adolescents indicate that violence is not a choice but a constraint for the violent subject. Such adolescents share a vulnerable personality that generates a feeling of internal insecurity and an increased dependency on their environment to secure themselves. Violent behavior, through its destructiveness, becomes a means of restoring a kind of power and control over the situation, which cannot be obtained through the search for pleasure and success. The current evolution of society and the family may favor the onset of these behaviors.