The anxieties of adolescents.

The Canadian nationally syndicated newspaper column entitled "Youth Clinic" during a four-year period received over 4,000 letters from young people. This article highlights the prominent themes of these letters and points out the recurrent concerns of those youth who are predisposed to writing. The most common themes have to do with the adolescents' sense of isolation from peers and adults. The difficulties in adequately responding to genuine but anonymous letters, the problems inherent in only publishing a small proportion of the letters received, and the potential uses of such a column, are discussed.