"Inside Lives" tells in the simplest of terms the most complex of stories: the internal development of a person from infancy to old age. Following the major phases of human development, Margot Waddell lucidly explores those vital aspects of experience which promote mental and emotional growth as well as those which impede it. She traces the interplay between factors, internal and external, which contribute to a person's character strength and sense of identity. In gathering together a wide range of clinical, non-clinical and literary examples, this book provides a personal and vivid perspective on the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and the nature of human development.