- Paperback: 406 pages
- Publisher: Harvard University Press; New edition edition (5 Sep 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0674953738
- ISBN-13: 978-0674953734
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 793,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £4.35
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Wisdom of the Ego: Sources of Resilience in Adult Life for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £4.35, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
The rumor of the death of Ego Psychology is greatly exaggerated. As long as George Vaillant writes his engaging books extolling the wisdom of ego psychology it is destined to remain part of our theoretical landscape...The Wisdom of the Ego is written with the author's vivid, sometimes witty and consistently clear style, happily interspersed with numerous examples both from his longitudinal studies, as well as from biographies of well-known people...One need not agree with all of Vaillant's premises to appreciate and enjoy this colorful and many-faceted book. I cannot think of a better, more absorbing book to introduce clinical graduate students and clinicians in general to an up-dated version of the best ideas of ego psychology. -- Sophie Freud American Journal of Psychotherapy Vaillant tells us that ego defenses are not pathological formations or symptoms of mental illness. They are ingenious self-deceptions that serve adaptation...He is to be commended for bringing certain unconscious processes into focus and for illuminating the various ways in which ego defenses contribute to a person's adaptation to life. -- Louise J. Kaplan Boston Sunday Globe The thesis of The Wisdom of the Ego is most persuasively developed by the use of life histories, some of which derive from subjects in Vaillant's study groups but many of which are derived from life histories of famous individuals. The reader gets delicious insights into the way that life experiences shaped the ego's defensive repertoire and how these defenses then shaped the careers of characters as diverse as Beethoven and Emily Dickinson, Tolstoy and Henry Ford, and Gandhi and Josef Mengele...The illustrations offered by these famous lives result in a book that is entertaining and memorable. -- John G. Gunderson, M.D. American Journal of Psychiatry Mental health, social fitness, creativity, self-deception, success and failure are documented with uplifting humor and nobility. Medical and psychiatric understanding is eruditely conveyed with the good taste of a fine after-dinner story. Canadian Medical Association Journal A stimulating presentation of theory and research on ego development. Choice
Product Description
One of America's preeminent psychiatrists draws on his famous Study of Adult Development to give us a look at how the mind's defenses work. What we see as the mind's trickery, George Vaillant tells us, is actually healthy. What's more, it can reveal the mind at its most creative and mature, soothing and protecting us in the face of unbearable reality, managing the unmanageable, ordering disorder. And because creativity is so intrinsic to this alchemy of the ego, Vaillant mingles his studies of obscure lives with psychobiographies of famous artists and others - including Florence Nightingale, Sylvia Plath, Anna Freud, and Eugene O'Neill.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Gaining in Wisdom : A Resource for Real Life
4 Feb 2000
Format:Hardcover
Seldom does a book, written by a psychiatrist for scholarly and professional reasons, make so much sense and resonate so deeply. George Vaillant M.D., a brillant mind and a gifted researcher, culls his vast sea of knowledge about the inner workings of the psyche and has shows us therapists and lay people alike how to better understand ours'. Dr.Vaillant writes with wit , warmth and compassion. He makes complex psychoanalytic theories very accessible and relevant to our daily lives.This text is absolutley indispensible for the psychotherapy student, the curious lay reader or the seasoned cliniciain who seeks to deepen and expand his or her understanding of the soul .Having delighted in reading the book when it was first published, I find myself returning to it again and again for its wise and engaging commentary on being human.
the product is new
2 May 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
the product is new, arrive earlier than expected, the experience overall is good, trust worthy, hope you can maintain this quality
The Mind's Response to the Human Condition
20 Jan 2012
Format:Paperback
Primarily about defense mechanisms - taught and clarified using a comparative approach - Examples:
"The task of splitting is to alleviate ambivalence and assign all the good feelings to one person and all the bad feelings to a scapegoat, as it were. For most of us splitting takes place demurely out of sight and mitigated by fantasy - Certainly in our imaginations we read with greater interest about the exploits of uninhibited stars like Elvis Presley and Madonna than we do of the good deeds of Mother Teresa and Eleanor Roosevelt. The small child has no difficulty cuddling up to a good Mummy while she reads to him or her about imaginary wicked witches and stepmothers who serve as convenient receptacles for most of Mummy's faults. Splitting is different from reaction formation because in reaction formation the user is oblivious to ambivalence and black is truly treated as white. With splitting a world that is appropriately gray is separated into all black and all white and the individual is left divided against himself or herself. Reaction Formation differs from projection in that it condemns the impulse but leaves responsibility with the user while projection shifts responsibility for the origin of the impulse or affect from the subject to object and may or may not reverse its value. Reaction formation can be distinguished from altruism in that reaction formation gives the user little pleasure. The self-deception or "denial" of reaction formation is different from that of dissociation (neurotic denial) because dissociation distracts us from and ignores our internal feelings while reaction formation notices everything but reverses its value." The author holds a positive attitude towards defenses, at one point even calling them a work of art (perhaps a bit of reaction formation on his part?).
"The task of splitting is to alleviate ambivalence and assign all the good feelings to one person and all the bad feelings to a scapegoat, as it were. For most of us splitting takes place demurely out of sight and mitigated by fantasy - Certainly in our imaginations we read with greater interest about the exploits of uninhibited stars like Elvis Presley and Madonna than we do of the good deeds of Mother Teresa and Eleanor Roosevelt. The small child has no difficulty cuddling up to a good Mummy while she reads to him or her about imaginary wicked witches and stepmothers who serve as convenient receptacles for most of Mummy's faults. Splitting is different from reaction formation because in reaction formation the user is oblivious to ambivalence and black is truly treated as white. With splitting a world that is appropriately gray is separated into all black and all white and the individual is left divided against himself or herself. Reaction Formation differs from projection in that it condemns the impulse but leaves responsibility with the user while projection shifts responsibility for the origin of the impulse or affect from the subject to object and may or may not reverse its value. Reaction formation can be distinguished from altruism in that reaction formation gives the user little pleasure. The self-deception or "denial" of reaction formation is different from that of dissociation (neurotic denial) because dissociation distracts us from and ignores our internal feelings while reaction formation notices everything but reverses its value." The author holds a positive attitude towards defenses, at one point even calling them a work of art (perhaps a bit of reaction formation on his part?).
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
