We will approach the question of the therapeutic effectiveness of psychotropic drugs in adolescent psychiatry from a double perspective: a meta-psychological one, using the historical works of psychiatrist-psychoanalysts, and a clinical one, using our daily practice of adolescent psychiatry. Since psychotropic drugs were introduced in psychiatry in the 1950’s, research has focused on metapsychological models of the effect of psychotropic drugs and on the place of the prescription in the transference-countertransference relation. Using clinical vignettes, we show that psychotropic medication is a tool in the relation with the adolescent, a psychotrope whose effectiveness can not be conceived of outside of the relation dynamic that is at work.

Adolescence, 2009, T. 27, n°3, pp. 779-788.