The Stages of Life: A Groundbreaking Discovery: The Steps to Psychological Maturity

In an alternately engaging and confusing primer, Anderson, a Houston psychoanalyst, sets forth a new theory of psychological maturation. Growing up, he says, results from the mind's innate impetus to understand the world, and key components of this process are contextual thinking, independent action and developing a sense of self and of God. Anderson provocatively maintains that psychological immaturity can continue into a person's 30s and early 40s. Equally challenging is his contention that getting married and having children may be attempts to facilitate emotional maturation. The midlife crisis, in his theory, is actually the last in a series of normal developmental dramas beginning with the oedipal conflict around the age of five and continuing through the identity crisis of adolescence. Although marred by stodgy writing and jargon, this manual equips adventurous readers with a map of the detours and roadblocks that can sabotage emotional and mental growth. 75,000 first printing; $100,000 promo budget; author tour. (Sept.)