title: The adolescent, the family and the physician.
abstract: The family physician is the ideal medical practitioner to treat the adolescent, since he has to retain a holistic concept of the person in his family and in society. We have to remember that each person has his or her own rate of development, so that what might be obnoxious to one teenager is still acceptable to another. An understanding of the psychological and social aspects of separation from the parent is necessary in treating the conflicts that arise within the adolescent. There is no point in attempting to use teenage jargon to gain confidence, because the young will find this phoney and the physician will not be able to keep up with the rapid rate of change in slang.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brennan