Calvin A. Colarusso - Böcker

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.

This is the second book in the pioneering investigation of adult develop­ ment by Robert A. Nemiroff and Calvin A. Colarusso. The first, Adult Development: A New Dimension in Psychodynamic Theory and Practice, ar­ rived to critical acclaim in 1981. It presented a psychodynamic theory of development during the second half of life and a model of normal adult functioning. This book is the logical sequel, expanding and elaborating the original formulations and applying them to the clinical practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Nemiroff and Colarusso demonstrate that these are appropriate techniques for patients in the second half of life, regardless of age. They lay to rest many stereotypes and myths that have long interfered with the dynamic treatment of older patients, and they propose exciting new conceptualizations such as that of adult develop­ mental arrests. The genetic approach reaches beyond childhood and adolescence and takes on important new meaning by incorporating an adult developmental past that influences both psychopathology and transference. The relationship between theory and therapy is richly demonstrated in the clinical presentations, including ten detailed case histories of pa­ tients between the ages of 40 and BO. These and other clinical discussions provide ample evidence that a psychodynamic approach that is based on a sound adult developmental psychology can be extraordinarily effective. They also demonstrate both the similarities and differences in working with older versus younger patients. This work is a major contribution in a long-neglected dimension of clinical psychiatry. SHERWYN M.

vii Preface Each year as I gave a lecture series on child and adult development to the adult and child psychiatric residents at the University of California at San Diego, someone inevitably would ask, "Is there a book that I could understand that has all of this information in it?"

The Long Shadow of Sexual Abuse: Developmental Effects across the Life Cycle has one simple purpose—to describe the profound interferences with normal developmental processes that occur in every subsequent developmental phase throughout life as the result of chronic child sexual abuse. Through the presentation of detailed case histories of individuals ranging in age from five to the early sixties, Colarusso convincingly demonstrates that the effects are life long. Sections on normal development for childhood, adolescence, young, and middle adulthood are followed by case histories, arranged chronologically according to the age of the victims at the time they were evaluated. Then the effects of the sexual abuse are traced through subsequent developmental phases to the chronological present. Colarusso illuminates how the passage of time actually increases the pathological effects of chronic child sexual abuse due to interferences with the developmental tasks of adolescence and adulthood.

In The Psychiatric Witness In Court: What Mental Health Professionals Need to Know, Cal Colarusso documents how the psychiatric profession plays a vital role in the legal process. Reports of evaluations and psychological test reports are provided, in addition to examples of direct testimony and cross-examination taken from actual cases. Colarusso ultimately demystifies the process by demonstrating that the well-prepared mental health expert has little to fear from cross-examination.

Developmental theory is the essence of any psychodynamic psychother­ apy, and certainly of psychoanalysis. It is through an understanding of progressive life events, and the way these events relate to associated biological and social events, that we come to understand both psycho­ pathology and psychological strengths. For a long time we have needed a clinically oriented book that surveys normal development in both childhood and adulthood. This book should be particularly helpful to all mental health professionals whose daily work requires a constant awareness and appraisal of devel­ opmental issues. Dr. Colarusso has integrated and summarized a tremen­ dous amount of theoretical, empirical, and clinical material in a format that makes it come alive through clinical examples. This book should be of great interest to all students of human behav­ ior as well as to seasoned clinicians. SHERWYN M. WOODS, M. D. , PH. D. vii Preface Each year as I gave a lecture series on child and adult development to the adult and child psychiatric residents at the University of California at San Diego, someone inevitably would ask, "Is there a book that I could understand that has all of this information in it?" I would reply that I did not know of any single source, but I could refer the person to many articles and books on development.

This is the second book in the pioneering investigation of adult develop­ ment by Robert A. Nemiroff and Calvin A. Colarusso. The first, Adult Development: A New Dimension in Psychodynamic Theory and Practice, ar­ rived to critical acclaim in 1981. It presented a psychodynamic theory of development during the second half of life and a model of normal adult functioning. This book is the logical sequel, expanding and elaborating the original formulations and applying them to the clinical practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Nemiroff and Colarusso demonstrate that these are appropriate techniques for patients in the second half of life, regardless of age. They lay to rest many stereotypes and myths that have long interfered with the dynamic treatment of older patients, and they propose exciting new conceptualizations such as that of adult develop­ mental arrests. The genetic approach reaches beyond childhood and adolescence and takes on important new meaning by incorporating an adult developmental past that influences both psychopathology and transference. The relationship between theory and therapy is richly demonstrated in the clinical presentations, including ten detailed case histories of pa­ tients between the ages of 40 and BO. These and other clinical discussions provide ample evidence that a psychodynamic approach that is based on a sound adult developmental psychology can be extraordinarily effective. They also demonstrate both the similarities and differences in working with older versus younger patients. This work is a major contribution in a long-neglected dimension of clinical psychiatry. SHERWYN M.