Offer D, Ostrov E, Howard K I, Atkinson R
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois.
Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1990 Sep;13(3):377-88.
Diagnostic work with adolescents has always been difficult. The problem is to distinguish serious psychopathology from mild crisis. We can now say, however, that a severe identity crisis and emotional turmoil are just not part of normal growing up. Our belief is that we do not help adolescents who experience such crises or turmoil when we tell them not to worry about their problems because they are a normal part of adolescence and because they will "grow out of it." In summary, we have presented data on the self-image of a large number of adolescents. We have stressed three things. First, we used self-administered questionnaires to collect our data. Most important, our data are consistent, and they are congruent with results obtained from use of other psychologic instruments such as interviews or parents' evaluations of their children. Second, we found that the normal groups of adolescents we studied were characterized more by their similarities than by their differences. The continuity of values for all our samples over an 18-year period and across cultures was especially impressive. Third, we stressed the diversity of adolescents' view of their psychologic worlds. These youths define normal functioning and development. They reside in our communities, and before we can help their disturbed peers who need professional help, we need to know what the norm is. Only then can we correctly diagnose and successfully treat the adolescents who do seek our help.
对青少年进行诊断性工作一直都很困难。问题在于要区分严重的精神病理学问题和轻度危机。然而，我们现在可以说，严重的身份认同危机和情绪动荡绝非正常成长的一部分。我们认为，当我们告诉那些经历此类危机或动荡的青少年不要担心他们的问题，因为这些问题是青春期的正常组成部分，而且他们会“长大就好了”时，我们并没有帮助到他们。总之，我们展示了大量青少年自我形象的数据。我们强调了三件事。首先，我们使用自行填写的问卷来收集数据。最重要的是，我们的数据是一致的，并且与使用其他心理工具（如访谈或父母对孩子的评价）所获得的结果相符。其次，我们发现我们所研究的正常青少年群体更多地以他们的相似性而非差异性为特征。我们所有样本在18年期间以及跨文化背景下价值观的连续性尤其令人印象深刻。第三，我们强调了青少年对其心理世界看法的多样性。这些年轻人定义了正常的功能和发展。他们生活在我们社区中，在我们能够帮助那些需要专业帮助的受困扰同龄人之前，我们需要知道什么是常态。只有这样，我们才能正确诊断并成功治疗那些确实寻求我们帮助的青少年。
