Thesis: Adolescence should be understood as the initiation point for shadow encounter.

It was just a short lecture. One topic. Two groups. 15 minutes each, with 10 minutes for questions. One group being parents, and the other being their high school children. My notes and slides were ready.

That is where it all began.

When nobody arrived, I drove home furious. Insulted, ignored. Such a waste of time and effort.

The Coach inside me said: “Don’t get mad, get even”

So, instead of shredding my notes, I considered why this had happened. Had the Universe arranged this for a reason? The title of the lectures had been “The Shadow of The Teen” and the talk was about how dark and hidden forces lurk within people, undiscovered, and create havoc, creating feelings of loneliness and despair which only appear real, but are not. One of the jokes for the lecture was that FEAR is only an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real. The point was that the kids should talk about it, and that the parents should look for signs of it, as well as to ease off pressuring their kids to perform. (Classic transference: parents’ own shortcomings must become the child’s ambition).

When I sat in front of my computer to start the research, to my absolute shock and horror there was none. Nothing to research, no papers to study, no theory. It appeared that nobody had ever written seriously about the shadow emerging in the teen years, from a depth psychology perspective. So I did.

That research became this thesis: The Adolescent Shadow: Monsters in the Maze.

This thesis forms the underpinning of the book: The Shadow of the Teen.

Please feel free to peruse the first dozen pages of the Thesis. If you would like a copy, please drop an email, as the thesis has not been published.