ABSTRACT
If we think of our professional selves as having a developmental trajectory, then we, too, are faced with regression, and this in turn potentiates further growth or debilitation. The theoretical center of Balfour's writing - "Growing Old Together in Mind and Body" is the Kleinian developmental model of psychological positions known by the shorthand PS-D. Klein viewed the paranoid/schizoid position as one that we outgrow on our road to maturity as we take up the depressive position. Some older couples who have found their way into treatment with the author were able to call upon their depressive position functioning to articulate their reasons for seeking help. The heart of the matter, is that the changes in their bodies signal death and bring the awareness of death closer with each iteration of deterioration. The capacity for growth in old age rests on the Bionian concept of an emotional experience, which he regarded as the primary source for growth and development.
