Theory of transition: latency and adolescence from an object-relations viewpoint

Abstract

In this study, the uniqueness of reflective man expressed in a variety of separate persons, each with his own expanding system of relationships the separate elements of which overlap and form parts of the systems of others provides our definition of personality which is that specially human quality by which a person manifests his individuality in relationships with objects. The person who forms the unit is the product of processes of biological evolution and the force which is activating these processes is taken to be ultimately the same as that which energises systems of physical matter. The study of interchange of energy between physical structures and the psychic apparatus of individuals is within the field of metapsychology in which the unit is a mental process. Metapsychologically, persons are themselves systems. Recent developments in ego psychology indicate that the time has now come to attempt a synthesis of Freudian and later theoretical contributions to personality study, clinical findings in both adult and child analysis, philosophical considerations of the nature of reality and consciousness and some recent advances in the natural sciences. Such a large aim is beyond the scope of this work which is confined to an attempt to reformulate the Freudian theory of latency and adolescence within a comprehensive theory of transition.