Abstract
The frequent phenomenon, although little explored, of adolescent dropout from psychotherapy is a worrying data, as a significant portion of them have mental health issues. As such, this narrative review based on scientific articles and books seeks to understand this phenomenon. Adolescent’s characteristics such as age, gender and other clinical variables like antisocial and delinquent behavior have been associated with dropout, but there is still no consensus. Attributes of the therapeutic process, such as the quality of the therapeutic alliance and therapist variables, are also associated with whether or not psychotherapy is maintained. In conclusion, literature is progressing in its understanding of why adolescents dropout from psychoanalytic treatment, emphasizing clinical factors and aspects of the therapeutic process. However, more studies are necessary to advance knowledge and prevention of this phenomenon.
Keywords:
adolescent; psychoanalytic psychotherapy; treatment dropout