This second edition of the remarkable Inside Lives (expanded with a
chapter on the last years of the life cycle) provides a perspective on
the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and the nature of human
development. Following the major developmental phases from infancy to
old age, the author lucidly explores the vital aspects of experience
which promote mental and emotional growth and those which impede it. In
bringing together a wide range of clinical, non-clinical and literary
examples, it offers a detailed and accessible introduction to
contemporary psychoanalytic thought and provides a personal and vivid
approach to the elusive question of how the personality develops.