Professor Philippe Jeammet, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, formerly headed the Department of Psychiatry for Adolescents and Young Adults at the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, in Paris.


Self-love is often a part of parental love, and it is often their own emotional needs that parents seek to fulfil through their love for their children. But parents must temper such feelings with an understanding of their child’s real needs, particularly during adolescence, if the child is to develop and fulfil his or her potential.
For their development, adolescents need adults who know their place and who know how to impose their support, assistance and authority as natural and necessary. Above all, adolescents need adults whose own lives show that life is worthwhile — despite its failures, suffering and inevitable disillusions.

• Drawing on his long experience, an eminent French specialist on adolescence offers a unique testimonial for teenagers, parents and society.