In an unprecedented series of studies, Harvard Medical School has followed 824 subjects -- men and women, some rich, some poor -- from their teens to old age. Harvard's George Vaillant now uses these studies -- the most complete ever done anywhere in the world -- and the subjects' individual histories to illustrate the factors involved in reaching a happy, healthy old age. He explains precisely why some people turn out to be more resilient than others, the complicated effects of marriage and divorce, negative personality changes, and how to live a more fulfilling, satisfying and rewarding life in the later years. He shows why a person's background has less to do with their eventual happiness than the specific lifestyle choices they make. And he offers step-by-step advice about how each of us can change our lifestyles and age successfully. Sure to be debated on talk shows and in living rooms, Vaillant's definitive and inspiring book is the new classic account of how we live and how we can live better. It will receive massive media attention, and with good reason: we have never seen anything like it, and what it has to tell us will make all the difference in the world.

Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development

Vaillant, George E.

Parenting & Relationships

Little, Brown Spark

Between 1939 and 1942, one of America's leading universities recruited 268 of its healthiest and most promising undergraduates to participate in a revolutionary new study of the human life cycle. The originators of the program, which came to be known as the Grant Study, felt that medical research was too heavily weighted in the direction of disease, and their intent was to chart the ways in which a group of promising individuals coped with their lives over the course of many years. 
 Nearly forty years later, George E. Vaillant, director of the Study, took the measure of the Grant Study men. The result was the compelling, provocative classic, Adaptation to Life, which poses fundamental questions about the individual differences in confronting life's stresses. Why do some of us cope so well with the portion life offers us, while others, who have had similar advantages (or disadvantages), cope badly or not at all? Are there ways we can effectively alter those patterns of behavior that make us unhappy, unhealthy, and unwise? 
 George Vaillant discusses these and other questions in terms of a clearly defined scheme of "adaptive mechanisms" that are rated mature, neurotic, immature, or psychotic, and illustrates, with case histories, each method of coping.

Adaptation to Life

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Little,Brown & Co

Between 1939 and 1942, one of America's leading universities recruited 268 of its healthiest and most promising undergraduates to participate in a revolutionary new study of the human life cycle. The originators of the program, which came to be known as the Grant Study, felt that medical research was too heavily weighted in the direction of disease, and their intent was to chart the ways in which a group of promising individuals coped with their lives over the course of many years.
Nearly forty years later, George E. Vaillant, director of the Study, took the measure of the Grant Study men. The result was the compelling, provocative classic, Adaptation to Life, which poses fundamental questions about the individual differences in confronting life's stresses. Why do some of us cope so well with the portion life offers us, while others, who have had similar advantages (or disadvantages), cope badly or not at all? Are there ways we can effectively alter those patterns of behavior that make us unhappy, unhealthy, and unwise?
George Vaillant discusses these and other questions in terms of a clearly defined scheme of "adaptive mechanisms" that are rated mature, neurotic, immature, or psychotic, and illustrates, with case histories, each method of coping.

Harvard University Press

At a time when many people around the world are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers some welcome news for the new old age: our lives continue to evolve in our later years, and often become more fulfilling than before.
Begun in 1938, the Grant Study of Adult Development charted the physical and emotional health of over 200 men, starting with their undergraduate days. The now-classic Adaptation to Life reported on the men’s lives up to age 55 and helped us understand adult maturation. Now George Vaillant follows the men into their nineties, documenting for the first time what it is like to flourish far beyond conventional retirement.
Reporting on all aspects of male life, including relationships, politics and religion, coping strategies, and alcohol use (its abuse being by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects), Triumphs of Experience shares a number of surprising findings. For example, the people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa. While the study confirms that recovery from a lousy childhood is possible, memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength. Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50. The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.

Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study

Belknap Press

Reference

Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press

Fine cloth copy in a good if somewhat edge-torn dw, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and strong. ; 359 pages; Description: xi, 359 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Subjects: Alcoholism--Psychological aspects. Men--Mental health. Alcoholism--Rehabilitation. Longitudinal studies.

The Natural History of Alcoholism: Causes, Patterns, and Paths to Recovery, First edition

Addiction & Recovery

When The Natural History of Alcoholism was first published in 1983, it was acclaimed in the press as the single most important contribution to the literature on alcoholism since the first edition of Alcoholic Anonymous's Big Book. George Vaillant took on the crucial questions of whether alcoholism is a symptom or a disease, whether it is progressive, whether alcoholics differ from others before the onset of their alcoholism, and whether alcoholics can safely drink. Based on an evaluation of more than 600 individuals followed for over forty years, Vaillant's monumental study offered new and authoritative answers to all of these questions. 
 In this updated version of his classic book Vaillant returns to the same subjects with the perspective gained from fifteen years of further follow-up. Alcoholics who had been studied to age 50 in the earlier book have now reached age 65 and beyond, and Vaillant reassesses what we know about alcoholism in light of both their experiences and the many new studies of the disease by other researchers. The result is a sharper focus on the nature and course of this devastating disorder as well as a sounder foundation for the assessment of various treatments.

The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited

One of America's preeminent psychiatrists draws on his famous Study of Adult Development to give us an exhilarating 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.

The Wisdom of the Ego

Self-Help

One of America's preeminent psychiatrists draws on his famous Study of Adult Development to give us an exhilarating 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.

Mental Health

Heaven fascinates us, yet we lack any empirical information about it. Why, despite our multiple faith traditions, does Heaven have such positive connotations for us all? Why, despite no tangible evidence, should autobiographies by authors who claim to have visited Heaven, usually through near death experiences, attract literally millions of readers? Why does virtually everyone, even non-believers, agree with the old adage that There is nothing better than Heaven ? Since a picture is worth a thousand words, Heaven on My Mind will focus more on true stories than on explication. In this book, the author shows how the prospectively gathered spiritual and religious biographies of the men in Harvard s legendary Study of Adult Development (The Grant Study) cast light upon the significance of faith and hope for love in Heaven in real lives. The author intends to show that putting the newly discovered concept of prospection together with our ancient faith in heaven allows us to understand the value of ruminating on an afterlife. Indeed, the life histories of the 184 men followed for their life-time in Harvard s path-breaking Study of Adult Development faith in Heaven is significantly associated with leading more successful lives. Due to recent advances in neurophysiology, the study of prospection reflects a paradigm shift in our understanding of the human mind. Prospection reflects the fact that the brain combines incoming information with stored information to build mental representations of the external world. Dr. Seligman and his colleagues book, Homo Prospectus (2016) revolutionizes modern psychology and supplants the past oriented psychology of Skinner, Freud and cognitive psychology with future oriented psychology suggested by this recently discovered neuroscience. It is prospection that allows us to fight the next war, not the last war. The author received a Templeton grant to study prospection by reanalyzing The Harvard Study of Adult Development (The Grant Study). Since 1939, the landmark Grant Study has conducted a prospective in contrast to retrospective lifelong social and medical study of a cohort of healthy college males. In order to document whether religious affiliation increased over time, beginning at age 47, every 6 years the author, as the longtime Grant Study Director, has asked the men about the intensity of their religious affiliation and the degree of their belief in life after death. Heaven on My Mind uses these spiritual and religious biographies to illuminate the significance of faith and hope for Heaven. In short, Heaven on My Mind will reflect the natural history of the men s religious affiliation and their prospection of, and expectations about Heaven over the course of their lives. For 40 years, readers have found such human transformations in the longitudinal studies of the author s books fascinating. The author believes Heaven on my Mind will be yet another major chapter in the research toward fully understanding the Study of Adult Development.

Heaven on My Mind: Using the Harvard Grant Study of Adult Development to Explore the Value of the Prospection of Life After Death (Religion and Spirituality)

Religion & Spirituality

Nova Science Pub Inc

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vaillant, George E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Vaillant, George E.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vaillant, George E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development

Adaptation to Life

Adaptation to Life

Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study

Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study

The Natural History of Alcoholism: Causes, Patterns, and Paths to Recovery, First edition

The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited

The Wisdom of the Ego

The Wisdom of the Ego

Heaven on My Mind: Using the Harvard Grant Study of Adult Development to Explore the Value of the Prospection of Life After Death (Religion and Spirituality)