This study of marital counseling pursues a particular theoretical direction in understanding both normal and pathological developmental processes and in providing diagnostic and technical precision. The extension of psychoanalytical theory into the area now known as ego psychology has enriched our knowledge about human behavior and particularly about the way in which the ego develops from birth through the early years of life when personality is formed. Ego personality has particular pertinence to the consideration of marriage as a developmental phase because through its generic theoretical propositions regarding growth and development.