ABSTRACT
We might think of psychoanalytic theory as having undergone a developmental sequence akin to the stages of ego development outlined by Jane Loevinger—from a preoccupation with drive and impulse to a concern with object relations to an interest in intersubjectivity. This evolution has afforded an ever-more complex view of the person in his or her world. My aim in this chapter will be to reconsider the psychoanalytic story of development as told from an intersubjective, relational perspective and to explore its implications for adult development in the light of Loevinger’s model of ego development.
