[Termination of inpatient treatment as a crisis and developmental tasks]

Especially in the inpatient treatment of adolescents the phase of termination is decisive, because important issues and developmental tasks are re-experienced by the young patient. Therefore a sufficient relief from symptoms cannot serve as the main criterium for termination. Instead the ego-development with all its aspects and the improvement of the capacity for emotional relationship is most important. The paper discusses some central dynamic factors of the termination phase. Most of these processes are also induced inside the therapeutic team thus leading also to a kind of separation crisis in the team.