Hints on Teen Therapy
Pamela Cantor’s advice to the parent having problems with a son is, as usual in her columns, outmoded and very likely to be further upsetting to the son and the family.
Even though she tries at length to tell the parent how to talk to the son, so that the son won’t think the situation is at fault, it is clear that Cantor believes the opposite--the son is the one being sent to the therapist. Such hypocrisy is quickly picked up by young people these days.
In California, which sometimes runs in front of the rest of the country, most therapists would now approach such a situation by recommending the family enter therapy. They would see the problem as largely interactional, not just as the son.
NANCY SPEAR
Hermosa Beach
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