by Margaret Lowenfeld at the Sixth Internation Congress of Child Psychiatry, held in Edinburgh between July 24-29 1966

My task is to attempt to present an approach to adolescent problems which may seem an unusual one. My theme is the adolescent in 1966: what is his situation? And that of society in regard to him? How do the two interact?

In essence, the situation of the adolescent is biological in nature. With the onset of puberty the adolescent feels a surging sense of power within him. Pictures come into his mind of great achievement for himself: of reforming abuses, redressing grievances changing world conditions. The vagueness of content and the mistiness of outline of these pictures render them absurd or incomprehensible to his surrounding adults. Their incomprehension drives him into strident battle with the members of his family, and from them to the outside world. The feeling of power is strong, but for this to turn into the deep satisfaction of achievement, in my view, certain specific conditions are necessary. An abiding sense of acceptance within a group: participation in corporate adventures and disciplines and a long series of small acknowledged achievements, and forgiven failures, which integrate him firmly into the group and add to the attainment of the group’s objectives. When these moulding conditions are absent the surge of force within an adolescent remains formless and frightening, driving him to seek the shelter of the accustomed and the safety of the known. At one and the same time therefore, he is a child seeking protection and a rebel driven by whirlwinds beyond his control.

While the dilemma of the individual adolescent is in its nature a biological one, so also, in my view, is the relation between the adolescent and society. In all periods there is a tendence for organised society become conservative, hardened into fixed viewpoints, resistive to new conceptions and fearful of loss of power. The force, the idealism, enthusiasm, courage, endurance and imagination of the adolescent, when welcomed and gradually assimilated by society, can, by their very extravagance, renew life in society, enlarge vision and change directives.