Facing a serious disease during adolescence despite a defective parental support: The experience of cancer

Facing a serious somatic disease during adolescence without any parental support is a very difficult life event. In this paper, we discuss the situation of teenagers facing deep emotional deprivation that existed prior to the illness and is reinforced by the lack of parental support during treatment. After analyzing the psychopathological mechanisms involved in such situations in parents, teenagers, and healthcare teams we hypothesize that the absence of involvement of parents can sometimes represent, for those who are not able to meet their child's emotional needs, a paradoxical way to take care of him. (C) 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.