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I have chosen in this chapter to describe emotional growth in terms of the journey from dependence to independence. If you had asked me to perform this task thirty years ago I should almost certainly have referred to the changes by which immaturity gives place to maturity in terms of progression in the individual's instinctual life. I would have referred to the oral phase, and to the anal phase, and to the phallic phase and the genital. I might have divided these phases up—first oral, preambivalent, second oral, oral sadistic, and so on. Some authors have very much divided up the anal phase; others have been content to have the idea of a pregenital phase that is based generally on the functioning of the organs of ingestion, absorption, and elimination. All this is good. It is as true now as it was, and it has started off our thinking and the structure of the theory by which we steer our course. Nevertheless, it is now in our bones, so to speak. We take it for granted, and we look to other aspects of growth when we find ourselves in the position I am in just now, where I am expected to say something that is not exactly common knowledge, or that takes into consideration the later developments in theory and attitude.
If I have chosen to look at growth in terms of dependence changing gradually towards independence you will agree, I hope, that this does not in any way invalidate the statement I might have made of growth in terms of erotogenic zones, or of object relating.
Maturity of the human being is a term that implies not only personal growth but also socialization. Let us say that in health, which is almost synonymous with maturity, the adult is able to identify with society without too great a sacrifice of personal spontaneity; or, the other way round, the adult is able to attend