Resilient Adults: Overcoming a Cruel Past

By Gina O'Connell Higgins

Book Overview

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

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787902535
• ISBN13: 9780787902537
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

One of the best...

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It moved me and inspired me. The author uses real examples of people she knows/has worked with. It is a fairly easy read and I have already suggested that it be a recommend/required reading for my Master's program courses.

Excellent not only for the young, but for those still hoping

As a forty-eight year old womens' health professional who struggled with an abusive childhood and recently left an abusive marriage of 27 years, I found great validation and hope in this book. Ms. O'Connell Higgins protrays the resilient who successfully avoided repeating the terror of their upbringing. Yet her focus on faith and her description of "the Sea Beyond the Sirens" are invaluable supports to anyone- young or old- who has decided to rid themself of the deamons of abuse.Finally, the descrptions the resilient and their role as "helpers" explains the activites of many who struggle to survive. They give back the fruits of their labors to others who are in need of example and assistance. Most importantly, her work incorporates the notion that no person abused should be viewed only as a victim. The survivor status may not come to all, but is always available to those who have the desire to change. The hope this book inspires makes it an excellent text for anyone who is involved in treating the traumatized or who is personnaly at any stage of abuse recovery.

Refreshing focus on health vs. pathology of abuse survivors.

Recommended reading for young adult survivors and their therapists. Forty persons who have overcome severe childhood abuse whom today live succesfully in long term, committed relationships and hold respected positions in their career fields are the subjects of the author's research.

It speaks the truth about overcoming an abusive childhood.

Accurate, Helpful, Reassuring