Table Of ContentAdult Development
CRITICAL ISSUES IN PSYCHIAT RY
An Educational Series for Residents and Clinicians
Series Editor: Sherwyn M. Woods, MD., Ph.D.
Universily of Soulhern Ca/ifornia Schaol af Medicine
Los Angeles, Ca/ifornia
A RESIDENTS GUIDE TO PSYCHIA TRIC EDUCA TION
Edited by Michael G. G. Thompson, MD.
ST A TES OF MIND: Analysis of Change in Psychotherapy
Mardi J. Horowitz, MD.
DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE: A Clinical Guide to
Diagnosis and Treatment
Marc A. Schuckit, MD.
THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE PSYCHODYNAMIC AND
BEHA VIORAL THERAPIES
Edited by Judd Marmor, MD., and Sherwyn M. Woods, MD., PhD.
LAW IN THE PRACTICE OF PSYCHIATRY
Seymour L. Halleck, MD.
NEUROPSYCHIA TRIC FEATURES OF MEDICAL DISORDERS
James W. Jefferson, MD., and John R. Marshall, MD.
ADULT DEVELOPMENT: A New Dimension in Psychodynamic Theory
and Practice
Calvin A. Colarusso, MD., and Robert A. Nemiroff, MD.
SCHIZOPHRENIA
John S. Strauss, MD., and William T. Carpenter, Jr., MD.
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring
delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only
upon adual shipment. For further information please contad the publisher.
Adult Development
A NEW DIMENSION IN PSYCHODYNAMIC
THEORY AND PRACTICE
Calvin A. Colarusso, M.D.
and
Robert A. Nemiroff, M.D.
University of California-San Diego
Schoo! of Medicine
La folia, Ca!ifornia
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Colarusso. Calvin A
Adult development.
(Critical issues in psychiatry)
Includes index.
1. Adulthood- Psychological aspects. 2. Psychiatry. I. Nemiroff, Robert A. joint
author. II. Title. Ill. Series.
BF724.5.C59 155.6 80-20250
15 1413 1211 10 9 8
ISBN 978-1-4899-3658-5 ISBN 978-1-4899-3656-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-3656-1
© 198 I Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press. New York in 1981.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1981
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise. without written permission from the Publisher
We dedicate this baak ta aUf families-aUf wives, Jean A. Calarussa
and Barbara D. Nemiroff, and aur children, Mike, Mary Ann, and
Tom Calarussa, and Nancy, Susan, and Julie Nemiroff-the centers
of aur lives and major stimuli ta aur adult develapment.
Foreword
This volume is about the normal development of adulthood, as weIl as
its vieissitudes and the contributions of such development to psycho-
pathology. The authors are psychoanalysts of great dinieal skill and
perceptiveness, but while their focus is consistently a psychodynamie
one, their conceptualizations about adult developmental processes are
applicable to virtually all kinds of therapy.
It is extraordinary how little attention has been paid to the effects
of adult developmental experience on mental development. Obviously
mental structures are not statie after the profound experiences of child-
hood and adolescence, nor are they merely a template upon whieh
adult experiences are processed. The authors dearly demonstrate that
current adult experience always adds to, and interacts with, existing
mental structure, whieh is itself the result of all preceding develop-
ment.
After a first section in whieh they examine life cyde ideas on de-
velopment from antiquity to the present, they present their own work
as it relates to adult experience and adult development. Their hypoth-
eses about the psychodynamie theory of adult development are partie-
ularly creative and an enormous contribution to the psychiatrie litera-
ture and the dinical understanding of patients. Consistent with their
views that development in adulthood is an ongoing and dynamic
process, they elaborate their ideas that childhood development is fo-
cused primarily on the formation of psychie structure while adult de-
velopment is concerned with the continued evolution of existing struc-
ture and its use. They demonstrate dearly that the developmental
processes of adulthood are influenced by both the adult past and the
childhood past, and in both instances, the process is deeply influenced
vii
viii FOREWORD
by the body and physical change. A particularly important phase-
specific theme of adult development is the normative crisis precipitated
by the recognition and acceptance of the finiteness of time and the in-
evitability of personal death. These themes are elaborated and clinically
applied in chapters on narcissism in the adult development of self, a
chapter on myths about the adult body, male midlife crisis, parent-
hood, and alternative life styles.
In the third part of their book, Drs. Colarusso and Nemiroff
present a method of adult developmental diagnosis and then go on to
elaborate the effects of adult developmental concepts on a variety of
psychotherapeutic interventions. Their theoretical concepts are then
translated into practical clinical strategies to understand and treat pa-
tients with a wide variety of psychopathology. Their clinical constructs
are not merely applicable to psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psycho-
therapy, but also to short-term psychotherapy and other psychothera-
peutic interventions. Independent of theoretical persuasion or profes-
sional title, this book will be rewarding for any mental health
professional or interested lay reader, involved in the understanding of
adult development themes, conflicts, or problems.
SHERWYN M. WOODS, M.D.
Acknowledgments
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the participation of the many individ-
uals who helped us in the preparation of this book.
Sherwyn Woods, our editor, colleague, and friend, suggested the
project to uso We appreciate his consistent encouragement and the
high standard of scholarship that he set.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the undertaking was our col-
laboration with three younger colleagues: Robert Neborsky, David Tal-
ley, and Susan Zuckerman. We came to know and admire Dr. Ne-
borsky through his work on the faculty of the Department of
Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego (UCSD), where his
enthusiasm and our mutual interests led eventually to collaboration.
Drs. Talley and Zuckerman were junior medical students when they
decided to concentrate their thesis research on adult development;
their ideas and formulations contributed substantially to the chapters
on the aging body and female midlife issues, respectively. We tender
them warm thanks and good wishes for their futures.
During midlife, as we have stressed, time becomes an increasingly
fleeting and valuable commodity. We give special thanks to Lewis
Judd, Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry at UCSD, for encouraging
this use of our time and for his unfailing support of our endeavor.
Behind many books, and certainly this one, is a kind of psychic or-
ganizer who helps ensure focus and consistency in the writing and
preparation. Barbara Wilkes Blomgren, our good friend and neighbor,
is a senior editor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD; we con-
sider ourselves fortunate indeed to have had her help and advice on
this project from beginning to end.
Actual writing is only one part of preparing a book for publication,
and tremendous effort is required to type and retype, Xerox, write let-
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ters, check bibliographies and copyrights, and so on. For their help in
these areas we thank first and foremost Rita Ballard, who is an admin-
istrative coordinator without parallel. She both encouraged us and
steadfastly followed through on myriad tasks. Toward the end of our
work, Debi Taylor helped enormously with copyright permissions and
corrections, applying finishing touches and insuring the completion of
the task. Doris Osborn and Nancy Nemiroff provided excellent typing
assistance. Without their efforts we would still be in the midst of our
work rather than finished.
We have had the good fortune to be associated with elose friends
who also share offiee space with uso Over weekly lunches and at other
times, they gave us their ideas, encouragement, and criticisms. To Judy
Braun, M.D., Brand Brickman, M.D., Esther Burstein, Ph.D., Haig
Koshkarian, M.D., and Harry Woods, M.D., we express our warrnest
thanks.
Finally, we thank those who have taught us and those who have
been taught by us, our companions in this developmental journey-
particularly the elinieal associates of the San Diego Psychoanalytie In-
stitute, the residents in psychiatry at UCSD, and our patients-for pro-
viding ideas and stimulating our growth as individuals and
professionals.
The permission of the following publishers to reproduce materials
in this volume is gratefully acknowledged by the authors:
From E. J. Anthony and T. Benedek, Parenthood, p. 167. Copyright ©
1970 by Little, Brown & Company. Reprinted by permission.
From Alan P. Bell and Martin S. Weinberg, Homosexualities, pp. 23-25,
81, 102. Copyright © 1978 by Alan P. Bell and Martin S. Weinberg.
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, a Division of Gulf &
Western Corporation.
From R. N. Bellah, The active life and the contemplative life. In E. H.
Erikson (Ed.), Adulthood, p. 66. Copyright © 1978 by W. W.
Norton & Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
From T. Benedek, Parenthood as a developmental phase. Psychoanalytic
Quarterly, 1950, 19(1), p. 20. Copyright 1950 by the Psychoanalytic
Quarterly. Reprinted by permission.
From E. M. Berman and H. I. Lief, Marital therapy from a psychiatrie
perspective: An overview (Table: "Individual and marital stages of
development," p. 6). American Journal 0/ Psychiatry, 1975, 132, p. 6.
