Is the fundamental rule of free association suitable for adolescence with its re-awakening of the polymorphism of childhood sexuality? Between the illusions of the Ego and the danger of fragmentation, sexual subjectivation is possible if the clinician makes himself or herself available to the present of adolescent experience and assesses the Oedipal conflict which is still active, even if the drives and the object relation are experienced as abuse. The case of an adolescent girl will serve to illustrate how recourse to a variety of symptoms is an attempt to elicit the right responses from the therapist.

Adolescence, 2025, 43, 2, 283-296.