"Don't tell us--show us": the use of role play in the teaching of psychoanalytic theory.

The psychological concepts associated with psychoanalysis are sometimes considered to be precious and somewhat irrelevant by professionals working with disturbed adolescents. Discussions (at a theoretical level) of these ideas may not highlight their usefulness in clinical situations. This paper describes the use of active role play techniques in a staff training group designed to teach about the "Inner World of the Adolescent". The fundamental features of "transference" and "counter-transference" were brought alive during these groups, and several other theoretical contributions of modern psychoanalysis were demonstrated within the setting of a training session. These groups were not intended to train "therapists", but to support and improve existing styles of work with adolescents.