When all these elements combine well so that people are able to function optimally and fulfil their basic needs and inner potentials we can hold that they have attained psychosexual integration. Such persons have attained maturity.
If any of these elements is absent or underdeveloped, or they develop in unhealthy ways, then our journey towards psychosexual integration will be slowed down or, in some extreme cases, even halted. If this happens then our sexual energy and mental capacities will be expressed in ways that do not promote our own or other people's growth. Some time back a priest in his late fifties shared his personal story with me. We shall call him John. He said: