This module gives students an outline of personality development from a psychodynamic and attachment perspective. There is an emphasis on the development of emotional relatedness to oneself and others and the importance of early experience in relation to later capacities for good relationships, effective learning and human functioning. The module demonstrates that as well as excitement and curiosity, adversity, conflict and loss are fundamental in normal development.
The development trajectory will begin before birth, and will move through phases such as infancy, attachment, weaning and separation, the oedipal phase, latency, adolescence, adulthood, ageing, dying and death. The whole lifecycle is addressed not only in its biological reality but also in its relationship to the mind and developing identity of the individual. Constitutional, family and social factors are all seen as influencing development throughout the lifecycle.
The module develops the use of psychoanalytic concepts by showing how these are applied to human development and the search for satisfaction, growth and maturity. As the module progresses, it will become clear that a ''linear model'' of development - that we pass through each phase of development once and successively, or that the trajectory of development is the same for everyone - can be questioned. It will be seen that at each phase unprocessed elements and influences remain to be worked through, sometimes more than once, in the light of new experiences that often involve adversity, conflict and loss.