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Development as the aim of clinical intervention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Gil G. Noam*
Affiliation:
Harvard University and McLean Hospital
*
Address reprint requests to: Gil Noam, Ed.D., Director, Laboratory of Developmental Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology, Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178.

Abstract

This paper introduces a new, clinical-developmental approach to research, theory and intervention. A line of research is described exploring the relationship between developmental organizations of meaning and symptom expression in adolescence. These cross-sectional and longitudinal studies demonstrate needed distinctions between self-complexity and self-maturity/integration—concepts that are described in the context of an overarching framework. In the final section of the paper, clinical methods are introduced for different adolescent developmental worlds and are exemplified with two cases.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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