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George E. Vaillant asks why people cope with stress in different ways. He asks how they can change habits that harm their lives. Case studies show how they change themselves and the world around them. This book on psychology looks at how adults grow. It also explores mental health and ways to cope.

The book has four parts. They move from research methods to coping styles and their effects. Vaillant presents the men in the Grant Study. He explains how he studied them. He looks at mental health through how people express sex and anger. He then ranks the ego’s defenses and shows how they work. These are ways the mind deals with stress. Topics include sublimation, which turns urges toward other ends. They also include suppression, or choosing to set thoughts aside. He looks at planning ahead, altruism, or helping others, and humor. He also explores neurotic defenses and those he calls immature.

Later chapters follow adult life within one culture. They look at how childhood shapes adult life. They explore ties with friends, spouses, and children. The last part returns to mental health and how the self matures. Notes at the end define the defenses. They also give an interview outline and scales for ratings. This edition has a preface from 1995.

Vaillant argues that defenses alone do not show illness. Their worth depends on the setting. It also depends on how well people can change their use. They can harm us when old needs outweigh facts at hand. They can twist events, block joy, or cut off feelings. He sees projection as a way to ease pain. This can pair fear of those close to us with imagined bonds to strangers.

Vaillant taught psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He studied adult growth and how people recover from schizophrenia. His work also covered recovery from heroin dependence and alcoholism. It covered recovery from personality disorders, too. He devised ways to test ideas about defenses through research. Later, he took an interest in aging well and human happiness.