In late adolescence and early adulthood, an ideally developing woman learns to cope with the world outside her family of origin and acquires a sense of identity that is stable and largely positive. Individuals with severe early trauma may have difficulty completing adolescence. Incest is one childhood trauma that can either be mastered in late adolescence or carried into adulthood with the potential for creating disturbances. Late adolescence-early adulthood would appear to be the age when incest victims are least likely to seek psychotherapy, instead relying on repression or suppression to cope with the incest experience. Incest victims may also use avoidance, acting out, and denial mechanisms and may resort to drugs and alcohol. Interpersonal crises during late adolescence may cause victims to be briefly shaken out of their denial stance. Case studies of incest victims in psychotherapy illustrate the use of denial mechanisms which were destined to break down. A victim may feel strongly attached to her mother, and at the same time, feel deeply ambivalent about her. The therapist must allow the client to work through her feelings about the mother-daughter relationship. Other themes that might be uncovered during psychotherapy include the repeated occurrence of intense romantic relationships which are ultimately destructive, and the repetition of rescue fantasies. Whether in group or individual therapy, the young incest victim needs a caring adult to relate to as she separates from her mother and revises her faulty identity formation. (NB)