George E. Vaillant is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

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.

• * Introduction *1. Why Praise the Human Ego? *2. A Matter of Definition *3. Self-Deceptions of Everyday Life *4. Necessary Questions *5. How Can We Prove That Defenses Exist? *6. The Ego and Adult Development *7. Life Histories *8. The Ego and Creativity *9. Sylvia Plath: Creativity and Psychotic Defenses *10. Anna Freud: Mature Defenses *11. Eugene O'Neill: The Maturation of Defenses *12. Disadvantage, Resilience, and Mature Defenses *13. How Does the Ego Mature? * Notes * Acknowledgments * Credits * Index

George E. Vaillant is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

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.

• * Introduction *1. Why Praise the Human Ego? *2. A Matter of Definition *3. Self-Deceptions of Everyday Life *4. Necessary Questions *5. How Can We Prove That Defenses Exist? *6. The Ego and Adult Development *7. Life Histories *8. The Ego and Creativity *9. Sylvia Plath: Creativity and Psychotic Defenses *10. Anna Freud: Mature Defenses *11. Eugene O'Neill: The Maturation of Defenses *12. Disadvantage, Resilience, and Mature Defenses *13. How Does the Ego Mature? * Notes * Acknowledgments * Credits * Index

George E. Vaillant is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

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.

• * Introduction *1. Why Praise the Human Ego? *2. A Matter of Definition *3. Self-Deceptions of Everyday Life *4. Necessary Questions *5. How Can We Prove That Defenses Exist? *6. The Ego and Adult Development *7. Life Histories *8. The Ego and Creativity *9. Sylvia Plath: Creativity and Psychotic Defenses *10. Anna Freud: Mature Defenses *11. Eugene O'Neill: The Maturation of Defenses *12. Disadvantage, Resilience, and Mature Defenses *13. How Does the Ego Mature? * Notes * Acknowledgments * Credits * Index