Resilient Adults

Offering an approach that focuses on the origins of mental health rather than the beginnings of mental illness, this book outlines how men and women can recognize the resilient traits they possess and foster the strength to overcome tragedy.

An inspiring and invigorating book! I recommAnd it to the courageous women and men who struggle each day to overcome their own cruel pasts, to the therapists who work with them, and to anyone interested in the relationship between adult development and mental health.''--Robert Kegan, Harvard University and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology 1. The Challenge of Resilience.

2. Two Portraits: Shibvon and Dan.

3. The Locus of Hope: A Developmental Approach to Early Love.

4. The Later Loci of Hope: Adolescent "Adoptive'' Relationships as Developmental Opportunities.

5. Faith and Vision.

6. Social and Political Activism: Healing Pathways.

7. "Struggling Well'': The Sea Beyond the Sirens.

8. Recommendations from the Resilient. "A deeply moving book: inspirational, celebratory, incredibly optimistic, practical, powerful, and beautifully written."

"Excellent. . . . There are many new titles about optimal personality development but few are as well researched or as inspiring as Higgins' Resilient Adults."

"An inspiring and invigorating book! I recommAnd it to the courageous women and men who struggle each day to overcome their own cruel pasts, to the therapists who work with them, and to anyone interested in the relationship between adult development and mental health.'' (Robert Kegan, Harvard University and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology)

"There are many new titles out about optimal personality development but few are as well researched or inspiring as Higgens's Resilient Adults. Thse survivors' own stories provide hope and valuable lessons to those hurt by life's experiences and for those who seek to understand and help them. It is written with informed intelligence and poetic passion. Recommended for its practical picture of mental health."

GINA O'CONNELL HIGGINS is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Salem, Massachussets. She is an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a staff psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Overcoming a cruel past

What allows one victim of a cruel past to live a life filled with healthy relationships, satisfying work, and community involvement, while another is left broken and isolated? Gina O’Connell Higgins has studied survivors for twenty years and has created a powerful account of the roots of resilience. Through compelling portraits, Resilient Adults provides the clues to an individual’s ability to ‘snap back’ and celebrate the hidden strengths in each one of us.

“A deeply moving book: inspirational, celebratory, incredibly optimistic, practical, powerful, and beautifully written.”
—CHOICE

“Excellent….There are many new titles about optimal personality development but few are as well researched or as inspiring as Higgins’s Resilient Adults.”
—THE READER’S REVIEW

“Resilient Adults is an inspiring and invigorating book! I recommend it to the courageous women and men who struggle each day to overcome their own cruel pasts, to the therapists who work with them, and to anyone interested in the relationship between adult development and mental health.”
—ROBERT KEGAN, Harvard University and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology