Books by George E. Vaillant

At a time when people are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers welcome news for old age: our lives evolve in our later years and often become more fulfilling. Among the surprising findings: people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa.

By summarizing the empirical studies, proposing a universal language of defense mechanisms, and demonstrating how various assessment methods can be used in diagnosis, case formulation, and treatment, Dr. Vaillant and an interdisciplinary group of contributors provide the groundwork for clinical practice as well as future research in the field.

In this updated version of his landmark study on alcoholism, George Vaillant returns to the same subjects, but with the perspective gained from fifteen years of further follow-up.

A preeminent American psychiatrist draws on his famous Study of Adult Development to give an exhilarating look at how the mind's defenses work. What we see as the mind's trickery, Vaillant tells us, is actually healthy. What's more, it can reveal the mind at its most creative and mature, soothing and protecting us from unbearable reality.

Between 1939 and 1942, Harvard University recruited 268 of its healthiest, most promising undergraduates for a revolutionary study of the human life cycle. Vaillant, the study's director, took the measure of these men. The result was this classic, which poses fundamental questions about individual differences in confronting life's stresses.