ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some of the theories of adult development and the crises that may be experienced during this stage of life. It suggests some clinical strategies for working with these crises, not only when they reproduce certain developmental themes from the past, but also when they mark something that cannot be regarded as a simple revisiting of past issues. The chapter differentiates between developmental crises and the pathological repetition of these crises. It considers the best therapeutic methods to use with therapists’ clients, even though they may not have personal experience of the crises that they are going through. Developmental crises in adult life are an increasingly complex modern reality. When considering a theory that relates to crises in adulthood one needs to consider when it was written as it matters if it was ten or 40 or 60 years ago. Crises allow reorganization of the personality.
