‘Too late for me’: The adolescent mental health crisis in time
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Catty, Jocelyn (2026) ‘Too late for me’: The adolescent mental health crisis in time. In: Psychoanalytic Crisis Work with Adolescents: An Independent Approach. Independent Psychoanalytic Approaches with Children and Adolescents . Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 63-86. ISBN 9781032972237
Full text not yet available from this repository.Abstract
What might lead an adolescent – belonging to a generation often described as having ‘their whole future ahead of them’ – to develop an ardent wish to abandon that future? This question is examined through the lens of psychoanalytic conceptions of time, combined with insights from interdisciplinary studies of time and waiting, to investigate the adolescent mental health crisis, particularly as it manifests in suicidal ideation and behaviour – acts that symbolically or literally seek to halt time. The author argues that adolescence itself can be understood as a temporal crisis, and that emphasizing its temporal dimensions provides valuable insight into the nature of adolescent suicidal distress. Special attention is given to the unique role time plays in both the experience of adolescent suffering and in its therapeutic treatment. By examining how contemporary youth may experience a disrupted or discordant relationship with time – characterized by a sense of being ‘too late’ or out of sync – the analysis highlights how suicidal gestures often reflect deeper struggles with temporality, identity, and the capacity to seek or receive help. Finally, the discussion turns to psychoanalytic psychotherapy, conceptualized as an offer of containment through time. Consideration is given to both the implications of ‘time-limited’ treatment models and the ways in which adolescents may assert control over the therapeutic process in an attempt to interrupt or escape pathological temporal patterns.
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