Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy as a Treatment for Depression in Adolescents: A Case Study

Abstract

The present article is an in-depth analysis of the use of psychoanalytic psychotherapy as a therapeutic tool for depression in an adolescent suffering from depressive symptoms. Drawing from psychoanalytic theories on object relations, transitional space and object, transference and countertransference, psychoanalytic psychotherapy is employed as a treatment for depression and the therapeutic relationship is examined as the space that allows for an improvement on the adolescent's emotional state and well-being. The effects of therapy are analysed using phenomenology as a theoretical approach and are demonstrated here through the use of thematic analysis, which provides a detailed examination of the adolescent’s symptomatology prior and later the beginning of therapy.