To be able to work with youth from immigrant families, we have to adapt our clinical frame and take in account the specific identity issues present in adolescents. This "cultural sensitive child psychiatry practice" is inspired from concepts and methods developed by French ethnopsychiatric schools; it also takes in account constraints associated with a general child psychiatric practice. In this paper, we underline different developmental challenges identified for cultural minority adolescents concerning their identity development. We present a clinical case that illustrates those issues as well as the challenges of a severe cultural transmission deficiency in a given family. "Working with culture in reverse" means reintroducing actively some cultural elements that remains silent and unavailable for the family; it is hoped that this particular technique of practice can support the family in its attempt to fill narrative blanks and lead to a better and stronger identity development. © 2008.

immigrants Identity Identity development Ethnopsychiatry second generation Adolescence

cultural anthropology social aspect immigration child behavior child psychiatry Article human family relation