The Essential Other

by Galatzer-Levy, Robert M.; Cohler, Bertram J.

• ISBN13: 9780465020669
• ISBN10: 0465020666
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-01-04
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

In its evolution, psychoanalysis has increasingly recognized that human behavior is as motivated by the search for a coherent sense of self as it is impelled by drives and defenses. In this comprehensive study of development, Robert Galatzer-Levy and Bertram Cohler examine how across the course of lifeinfancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, senescencehumans primarily structure their experience by creating meaning from their relations with other people.Drawing on resources from diverse fields, including psychoanalysis, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and literature, this book clarifies the mass of thinking and research findings in human development. Plentiful and precise examples illuminate the principles and empirical findings discussed. The authors' multifaceted approach to understanding development allows them to examine how smaller developmental pathwayssuch as the growth of interpersonal skills, the awakening of the sexual self, the search for integritycontribute throughout life to the search for solace, support, and meaning in the context of essential others.Packed with insights from many sources, this expansive description of the growth of the self will be an invaluable reference for both practitioners and researchers.

Author Biography

Robert M. Galatzer-Levy, M.D., is a supervising and training psychoanalyst. He is a faculty member of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and the University of Chicago. Bertram J. Cohler, Ph.D., is William Rainey Harper Professor of Social Sciences in the College, and Professor, Departments of Psychology, Education, and Psychiatry, the University of Chicago. He is co-author of Mentally Ill Mothers and Their Children and of Mothers, Grandmothers, and Daughters. Robert M. Galatzer-Levy, M.D., is a supervising and training psychoanalyst. He is a faculty member of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and the University of Chicago. Bertram J. Cohler, Ph.D., is William Rainey Harper Professor of Social Sciences in the College, and Professor, Departments of Psychology, Education, and Psychiatry, the University of Chicago. He is co-author of Mentally Ill Mothers and Their Children and of Mothers, Grandmothers, and Daughters.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(35)
The Human Environment of Infancy	36	(28)
Toddlerhood: The Self and Morality	64	(22)
The Toddler Years: Language, Play, Sex, and Anality	86	(29)
Early Childhood	115	(26)
Moving into the Larger World: Middle Childhood	141	(25)
Adolescence and Youth	166	(31)
Youth and Young Adulthood: Generation, Education, and the Family	197	(29)
Stable Adulthood: Work	226	(23)
Courtship, Engagement, Relationship, and Marriage	249	(35)
Midlife	284	(28)
Late Life	312	(27)
Conclusion	339	(22)
References	361	(88)
Name Index	449	(13)
Subject Index	462