Here is a projective technique designed specifically for adolescents--with particular reference to sensitive themes such as abuse and neglect. Appropriate for 12- to 19-year-olds, these 11 picture cards give clinicians a noninvasive way to obtain important information about teenagers' concerns and problems. They are available in two versions, one featuring white teenagers, the other, black teenagers. The two versions depict identical scenes.

    Each card is shown to the adolescent, who is asked to create a story about the scene pictured--a story with a beginning, middle, and end. You can administer any or all of the cards, depending on your clinical objective. It usually takes from 45 minutes to an hour to administer the entire set of 11.

    The cards focus on parent-, peer-, and sibling-adolescent interaction, pulling for themes of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, peer acceptance, loneliness, depression, drug use, and domestic violence. Because the pictures are relatively ambiguous, extreme stories created in response to them tend to be particularly meaningful and informative. The Adolescent Apperception Cards are an effective and nonthreatening way to help teenagers express their concerns and underlying problems.