The effort to separate in a pubertal Mormon convert: a terminal profile

The use of psychoanalytic profile to observe psychopathology in a pubertal boy is illustrated. Behind the choice of this instrument for observing human behavior in treatment lies the relevant emphasis on studying and clarifying developmental vicissitudes and issues around the struggles of the pubertal boy with the rekindling of early behavioral attitudes and concerns, especially of pre-oedipal and oedipal incestuous concerns--the negotiation of which sould be a platform for working towards the attainment of an adaptive sexual organization in adolescence. The profile attempts to demonstrate with clinical material how very important it is to observe a complex network of both conscious and unconscious phenomena to get a deeper and broader understanding of a pubertal boy's struggles.