ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the conceptualisations of development commonly used in psychoanalysis. The fundamental developmental model in psychoanalysis is not in a satisfactory state. It is retained because the model offers a solution to key questions about mental function by providing a picture of how it emerges. The chapter describes some ideas from non-linear dynamics relevant to thinking about development. Non-linear dynamics suggests that development can occur by other means than epigenetic unfolding of predetermined developmental lines. The non-linear, non-epigenetic model of development suggests a shift of analytic attention away from steps along a developmental line to the processes active in development itself. The chapter suggests that the core feature of normal developmental situations lies in the ability to construct a general context for problem solution. Problem solution is characterised principally by the re-establishment of function within the area of complexity in the area characterised in studies of complex systems as "on the edge of chaos".
