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This book is written for the professional person engaged in the psychotherapy of individuals. It combines three essential ingredients that any book of this genre should include: (1) It describes the psycholocial needs of the human being from birth to death; (2) it
reviews the dynamics and etiology of the major psychosocial disorders (neuroses, psychoses, character problems, additions, and sexual deviations); and (3) it provides nineteen case vignettes in which the psychotherapist has attempted to provide an experience for the patient that is designed to resolve maturational tasks.
In his review of the literature the author traces the development of the therapeutic role from Freud through Ferenczi, Rank, Adler, and Sullivan to Alexander and French in the 1940's and then to “Hyman Spotnitz, whose formulations have been one of the most significant contributions to the literature on the resolution of the narcissistic disorders (schizophrenia and other preoedipal and preverbal problems).”
Strean divides his book into six chapters, including an epilogue on the mature adult. The six chapters are “Early Infancy”; Learning and Training”; “The Family Romance”; “Socialization”; “The Stormy Years of Puberty”; and “Adolescence.” In each chapter he describes the maturational needs, dysfunctions, and interventions necessary for the child (patient) to successfully progress to the next level of development. In the epilogue on the mature adult the author explores the many interpretations and multifaceted applications of maturity.