Ph. Gutton has coined two concepts for speaking of the changes that happen at the onset of puberty. The pubertaire emphasizes the violence and the breaking-in that occur both somatically and psychically. The adolescens expresses the work of psychical elaboration which the drive-surge of the pubertary requires in order to resist the dangers of the Ego’s unity shattering (psychosis) and of breakdown (depression). Ph. Gutton has called these two movements the adolescent process.

Adolescence, 2024, 42, 2, 245-252.