The Race Against Time: Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in the Second Half of Life (Critical Issues in Psychiatry)

This book is a continuation of the pioneering work reported in Adult Development in which Drs. Nemiroff and Colarusso began to formulate a psychodynamic theory of development during the second half of life and presented a model of normal adult functioning. In Race Against Time, the authors expand on that model, but more importantly, they, along with eleven other sensitive and experienced therapists, effectively apply sound ideas to clinical situations, After breaking new theoretical ground by proposing such concepts as adult development arrests, the authors and their colleagues present and discuss case histories of extraordinary successful psychotherapy and psychoanalysis with patients at developmental stages between the ages of 40 and 80 who experienced specific hardships including the death of a spouse or a child, the loss of a job, or physical health problems. The authors discuss the role of friendship in midlife with reference to the therapist and his work, and a renowned psychoanalyst gives a poignant, personal commentary on growing old.