Adolescents are lucky. They are at the age when life offers them a wide range of choices. Yet it is not easy for them to know how to make the best possible use of their new freedom. Torn between exaltation and powerlessness, adolescents must step back and take stock of their skills. Above all, they must not waste the opportunities that lie before them. Life for young people has become increasingly difficult and they must contend with numerous fears: fear of being themselves, fear of others, fear of the future. Parents have an important role to play during these years, but they are often at a loss. They can, however, help their children reach their own decisions freely, and they can instil in them the desire to make plans. But parents must also know how to set limits and when to say no. The author argues that, in most cases, a turbulent adolescence leads to a balanced adulthood. Drawing on his long experience, the eminent French specialist on adolescence Philippe Jeammet explains the factors that enable adolescents to construct their personalities. He helps parents define their roles as educators and shows them how to maintain the necessary distance between themselves and their children.He explains the disorders through which adolescents express their feelings of disarray. His advice will help troubled teenagers fied their path in life.Philippe Jeammet, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, heads the Department of Psychiatry for Adolescents and Young Adults, which he founded, at the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, in Paris. He is the author of Anorexie Boulimie (2005), Adolescences (with Alain Braconnier, 2004), Les Dépressions à l'adolescence (with Maurice Corcos, published by Dunod, 2005), La Psychiatrie de l'adolescence aujourd'hui (with François Ladame, 1998).