ABSTRACT
Today's psychoanalysts, unlike those of the past, do not see themselves as members of rival Elites each claiming to be in sole possession of the truth; they have learned to coexist and to tone down the intensity of the debate and of their ideological controversies. For this reason, the various movements and the associated theories, while clearly distinguishing themselves from one another, stand in a relationship of contiguity, pursuing different routes towards understanding the reality they seek to investigate. Every theory entails a model that facilitates understanding of the object of its study, while at the same time inhibiting possible vital new approaches to problematic and unknown aspects. After the discovery of infantile sexuality, Freud held that a person's growth proceeded in parallel with sexual maturation; he identified the various phases of this maturation, which constituted the psychosexual development of the individual.
