The author proposes to decline the word “cloistered” in the masculine, using the treatment of males who withdraw socially in adolescence. To do this, she will explore what is specific to the construction of narcissism, boundaries, and the processing of loss in boys. She will then show how these components take part in the boy’s journey through adolescence. Lastly, she will illustrate her arguments with a clinical account, which leads to the issue of the mirror function.
The phenomenon of young people withdrawing into their homes (hikikomori) shows us a new and particular way for adolescents from different backgrounds to express their malaise. The way they speak of their journey and their reclusion will be the subject of an analysis that reveals three types of withdrawal: alternative withdrawal, reactional withdrawal, and chrysalis withdrawal. Each is a way of responding to social expectations and family dynamics during the passage into adulthood.
This article deals with the various mechanisms leading adolescents to psychological locking-up. Locking-up is different from isolation, inasmuch as it implies a disavowal of the other’s mirroring ability. Because of the conflict between narcissism and object relation and because of the way puberty upsets early dependence on infantile objects, psychological locking-up appears under the guise of a fetishistic relation. The presentation of a few clinical cases will allow us to set down some guidelines enabling adolescents to get free from locking-up, even though, most of the time, these young patients are not asking us for anything.
Revue semestrielle de psychanalyse, psychopathologie et sciences humaines, indexée AERES au listing PsycINFO publiée avec le concours du Centre National du Livre et de l’Université de Paris Diderot Paris 7