This book addresses critical issues regarding the impact of chronic illness and disability on human development. It was written for health care professionals who help chronically ill and disabled persons deal with the psychological and social as well as the biological aspects of their illness or disability. An expanded version of Erik Erikson's eight stages of human development provides the theoretical framework for the book. Erikson's theories present a biopsychosocial approach to stages of development. He identified maturational crises or "anticipated crises" of development that must be mastered before an individual can progress to the next stage. In each chapter of the book, one of Erikson's "anticipated crises" of development is reviewed and then the "unanticipated crisis" of a chronic illness is introduced. Questions are then raised about how individuals in each developmental stage can resolve the maturational crisis in the face of the environmental crisis. (JD)