Introduction

Adolescents and young adults face important developmental tasks: separation, transforming relationships with their parents into a more mature form, gaining emotional, social, professional and financial independence. The occurrence of mental disorders or problems in these developmental periods, for example affective, anxiety, personality problems, difficulties in regulating emotions and behaviors, may impede or even block these important processes.

Case report

The paper describes a woman in a strong, unresolved, emotional dependence on her mother. The patient came for psychiatric help because of mixed affective and anxiety symptoms and emotional regulation problems. Treatment with lamotrigine and pregabalin was recommended. The patient’s symptoms and functioning improved as a result of pharmacotherapy. During the following months of observation, the patient transformed her relationship with her mother. Based on the symptom improvement as a result of medications and during psychotherapeutic work, the patient gained greater emotional independence in her relationship with the mother. At the same time, the patient’s relationship with her mother improved significantly. The patient attributed these effects to the medications she was taking.

Conclusions

An important – but often overlooked and not recognized in scientific literature – aspect of pharmacotherapy in early adulthood is the fact that effective pharmacological treatment, combined with psychotherapeutic treatment, may unblock the possibility of separating, gaining independence and establishing a more mature relationship with parents and other people.