Rock climbing is an activity that is on offer to patients hospitalised in the Maison des adolescents (Cochin hospital, Paris, France) as well as to those followed part time in the Centre d鈥檃ccueil th茅rapeutique 脿 temps partiel (CATTP). The type of bodily experience afforded by this activity, the cognitive and emotional constraints that participants have to cope with, the learning aspects, and the mental experiences that are liable to be generated, all contribute to the therapeutic impact of the activity. In order to apprehend the therapeutic dimension provided by this physical activity, three models were selected: the cognitive behavioural model which puts emphasis on learning processes; the attachment model as a primary pattern independent from infantile eroticism; and the psychoanalytical model which explores intrapsychic conflicts, materialised by fantasies or by representations of actions driven by impulses, and which enables definition of the conditions in which rock climbing and bodily activities can be viewed providing scope for mediation. These models, in an integrative manner, contribute to forming a psychopathological and therapeutic perspective that justifies the place allocated to teaching bodily activities within our care provision strategies.