A conjoint phase of treatment involving a severely disturbed adolescent boy and his father

A phase of father-son conjoint treatment during psychoanalytic psychotherap y of the son is described. The son, who met descriptive criteria for schizo phrenia felt most alive when planning revenge on his father; the father fra ntically dwelled on the son to the exclusion of virtually everything but wo rk. The conjoint therapy complemented the son's individual therapy and led to a stable, hence analyzable transference. The outcome was generally posit ive in a case whose prognosis at the outset had appeared dismal Questions c oncerning therapeutic change find clinical technique are raised. The a auth or suggests that others in similar clinical circumstances might consider a phase of conjoint treatment.