Clinical situations are presented to illustrate how psychotropic medication may modify the adolescent's relationship with the mental and bodily self, the second separation- individuation process within the family, and the therapeutic relationship between adolescent and psychiatrist. Among the topics discussed are medication within family dynamics and psychotropic medication in the psychiatrist-adolescent relationship. In a section on the prescribing of psychotropic drugs during adolescence the authors discuss the importance of informing the adolescent about the goal of therapy, the type of drug, its collateral effects, length of treatment, and outcome evaluation. Other topics discussed in this section are the modality of drug administration, the side effect of psychotropic medication, suspending drug treatment, and the abuse of psychotropic medication. The authors advise that the clinician can predict a drug's psychodynamic effects only after a close psychopathological evaluation of the adolescent and his/her family. If the clinician is not faced with a psychiatric emergency, prescribing pharmacotherapy should follow psychopathological investigation, rather than be the starting point of a therapeutic program. 12 references