Differentiation, adolescent autonomy from the perspective of family therapy

Attila András Szücs

Department of Philosophy, University of Pécs, Hungary

Amaryl Árkovits

Clinical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy,University of Pécs, Hungary

Krisztina Dorn

Clinical Center, Pediatric Clinic, Department of Child Psychiatry, University of Pécs, Hungary

Abstract

The paper starts from the premise that late and not always complete differentiation from the family of origin is a significant problem in our society. We intend to discuss this issue by referring to individual developmental and family therapy models. The paper provides an overview of how different schools of family therapy, especially the transgenerational school, treat the question of individual differentiation. The other model to be described is Erik Erikson’s model of the individual psychosocial development. In summary, we aim to provide insights into comprehending the questions and difficulties of differentiation, and suggest possible ways of how the parent – child relations can develop for the child to reach confident adulthood from the inherent immaturity of adolescence.