Dealing with the abdication dynamic in the post divorce family: a context for adolescent crisis

Separation and divorce can exacerbate or precipitate abdication of parental functions. This is often associated with disengagement and acting-out by the adolescent offspring. This paper describes a therapy oriented to the management of four specific processes: (a) the restoration of parental nurturing functions, which tend to collapse under the personal and interpersonal tensions of divorce, with the result that the adolescent is without sustenance or seeks it elsewhere; (b) the recovery of parental guiding and controlling functions; (c) the correction of distortions that accompany the separation process and restoration of a relatively more accurate view of family reality; and (d) the repair of parental unity. Excerpts from a case study are used to illustrate the orchestration of this therapy.