Dr. Colarusso's six books in print have been published in English, Korean, and Spanish. See http://amzn.to/calcolarusso.
He has published over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
The Long Shadow of Sexual Abuse: Developmental Effects across the Life Cycle by Calvin A. Colarusso (Aug 6, 2010)
Reviews
W.B. Yeats once wrote, 'The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.' We wish this were so. Those who perpetrate child sexual abuse―whether the lonesome and forlorn or the predatory―are the morbid and timeless contaminants of the beauty and innocence we so cherish in our children. Dr. Calvin Colarusso, the eminent psychoanalyst and pioneer in adult development, brings a passion, depth, and clarity to one of the great scourges of our era, the developmental sequelae of child sexual abuse. (Reid Meloy, PhD, ABPP, Forensic Psychologist, co-editor, International Handbook of Threat Assessment; University of California, San Diego)
Clinical material, a developmental approach, and clearly articulated social need are integrated in this brave and disciplined work on the devastating, life-long effects of chronic childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and rape. An invaluable, if frightening contribution for which clinicians, theoreticians, social scientists, and the legal profession may well be grateful. (Peter Blos, Jr., MD, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute; University of Michigan Medical Center (retired))
Widely respected for his seminal contributions to the understanding of adult psychological development, Calvin Colarusso turns his attention here to the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse. With the help of detailed, poignant, and often heart-breaking clinical material, he illustrates how normal developmental processes throughout the life span are compromised as a result of such trauma. Colarusso's orientation is unabashedly clinical and his aim is not only to lay bare the harmful consequences of abuse but also to point out that resilience, self-reliance, and tenacious pursuit of self-knowledge can evolve from it. His book is replete with clinical wisdom, evidence of caring devotion to suffering individuals, and a thoroughly humane attitude! (Salman Akhtar, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)
Dr. Calvin Colarusso, the renowned clinician and scholar, has again demonstrated his remarkable command of the complex nuances of human development and behavior. In this exceptional and important book, he addresses the sensitive and profound topic of chronic child sexual abuse, and its effects on the victims throughout their lives. His erudition and insights are palpable as usual, but it is his compassion and humanity emanating from his writing and from his heart which make this book indispensable for those who work with the victims as children or adults and for those who are involved in justice or social policy. (Saul Levine, MD, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego; Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego)
Reviews
W.B. Yeats once wrote, 'The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.' We wish this were so. Those who perpetrate child sexual abuse―whether the lonesome and forlorn or the predatory―are the morbid and timeless contaminants of the beauty and innocence we so cherish in our children. Dr. Calvin Colarusso, the eminent psychoanalyst and pioneer in adult development, brings a passion, depth, and clarity to one of the great scourges of our era, the developmental sequelae of child sexual abuse. (Reid Meloy, PhD, ABPP, Forensic Psychologist, co-editor, International Handbook of Threat Assessment; University of California, San Diego)
Clinical material, a developmental approach, and clearly articulated social need are integrated in this brave and disciplined work on the devastating, life-long effects of chronic childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and rape. An invaluable, if frightening contribution for which clinicians, theoreticians, social scientists, and the legal profession may well be grateful. (Peter Blos, Jr., MD, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute; University of Michigan Medical Center (retired))
Widely respected for his seminal contributions to the understanding of adult psychological development, Calvin Colarusso turns his attention here to the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse. With the help of detailed, poignant, and often heart-breaking clinical material, he illustrates how normal developmental processes throughout the life span are compromised as a result of such trauma. Colarusso's orientation is unabashedly clinical and his aim is not only to lay bare the harmful consequences of abuse but also to point out that resilience, self-reliance, and tenacious pursuit of self-knowledge can evolve from it. His book is replete with clinical wisdom, evidence of caring devotion to suffering individuals, and a thoroughly humane attitude! (Salman Akhtar, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)
Dr. Calvin Colarusso, the renowned clinician and scholar, has again demonstrated his remarkable command of the complex nuances of human development and behavior. In this exceptional and important book, he addresses the sensitive and profound topic of chronic child sexual abuse, and its effects on the victims throughout their lives. His erudition and insights are palpable as usual, but it is his compassion and humanity emanating from his writing and from his heart which make this book indispensable for those who work with the victims as children or adults and for those who are involved in justice or social policy. (Saul Levine, MD, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego; Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego)
The Wound of Mortality: Fear, Denial, and Acceptance of Death (Margaret S. Mahler) by Salman Akhtar, Ira Brenner, Stanley J. Coen and Calvin A. Colarusso (Jan 22, 2010)
Fulfillment in Adulthood: Paths to the Pinnacle of Life by Calvin A. Colarusso (Sep 1994)
From the Back Cover
The years between 35 and 65 should be rich and fulfilling, bursting with the very best life has to offer. Unfortunately, for too many people, a life review reveals a series of missed opportunities, bungled relationships, and personal misfortunes. The result is preoccupation with what might have been, not what is possible. To reach a profound sense of fulfillment, one must first comprehend the phases that make up the whole of life. The recent, cutting-edge science of adult development offers vital tools to gain knowledge of one's life. Dr. Colarusso - of the world's premier experts in this specialty - draws on the latest scientific concepts in this rapidly expanding field. Separating life into nine phases, he illustrates that only by relating our past and present to the future can we enhance our chances for fulfillment. As an eminent authority in the field of development, Dr. Colarusso calls on his 30 years of clinical experience to provide us with a thorough understanding of the changing biological, psychological, and environmental conditions that we face throughout our lives. He arms us with knowledge that will help us maximize the pleasures and avoid the pitfalls that each new phase of life brings - particularly the anxieties and disappointments of midlife. Guiding us through a wealth of facts, Dr. Colarusso shows us the smoothest and most direct paths to adult fulfillment. He demonstrates that an enriched, rewarding life is one in which the triumvirate of human experience - love, work, and play - are balanced. By learning from the concepts of this burgeoning science and the detailed case histories - including one of a 70-year-old grandmother - we find that it is never impossible ortoo late to achieve happiness and fulfillment.
Child and Adult Development: A Psychoanalytic Introduction for Clinicians (Critical Issues in Psychiatry) by Calvin A. Colarusso (Sep 30, 1992)
Review
The author shares his conceptual grasp of human development in a lucid manner that enables the reader, practitioner, theoretician, and trainee to be currently knowledgeable and prepared to acquire and integrate newer knowledge as it is harvested.'
Albert J. Solnit, M.D., Sterling Professor Emeritus, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Yale University
Review
The author shares his conceptual grasp of human development in a lucid manner that enables the reader, practitioner, theoretician, and trainee to be currently knowledgeable and prepared to acquire and integrate newer knowledge as it is harvested.'
Albert J. Solnit, M.D., Sterling Professor Emeritus, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Yale University
New Dimensions in Adult Development by Robert A., M.D. Nemiroff and Calvin A. Colarusso (Jul 1990)
The Race Against Time: Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in the Second Half of Life (Critical Issues in Psychiatry) by Robert A. Nemiroff and Calvin A. Colarusso (Jan 31, 1985)
Review
Markus Youssef
3.0 out of 5 starsAdulthood as a Lifelong Work in Progress
May 19, 2014
Format: Hardcover
The title of this book refers to the idea that during a person's second half of life, they may ask themselves: Is this all there is in life? Have I lived the life I was supposed to have lived? Where has the time gone? What is my legacy? This may lead to a new relationship with time. This issue with time happens because many of the things we experienced and learned about ourselves took place during the time when the timelessness of the unconscious was present without the availability of the explicit memory system, leaving us to question our acquired childhood beliefs in adulthood. For example,
"In Transformations: Growth and Change in the Adult life (1978), Roger Gould explored the effects of childhood experience on adult development. He postulated four assumptions ... (1) 'We'll always live with our parents and be their child'; (2) They'll always be there to help when we can't do something on our own'; (3) 'Their simplified version of our complicated inner reality is correct, as when they turn the light on in our bedroom to prove there are no ghosts'; and (4) 'There is no real death ... " pg 14
This reminds me and makes me wonder about a full-page featured article I once saw written up in a Canadian newspaper entitled "Baby Waiters" where the word 'Boomers' was crossed out underneath the word 'Waiters.' The author of the article wondered if some baby boomers were just waiting around for their inheritances and therefore felt no real need to engage in adult development or question assumptions like those above.
Robert Bly also wrote a book entitled, Sibling Society, highlighting the importance of adult development.
Colarusso and Neimroff emphasize that human development is a lifelong process that continues on from whatever model of child development one subscribes to. "... whereas childhood development is focused primarily on the formation of psychic structure, adult development is concerned with the continuing evolution of existing psychic structure and with its use" pg 61 For example, one adult task is to form friendships that match with one's current values/vision but if the idea of friendship is an all-or-nothing proposition, then the childhood task of advancing out of the defense mechanism of splitting might still be present and therefore both splitting and 'friends as partners on the spiritual journey' need to be simultaneously looked at.
Most of this book is a description of how the authors worked with several individuals in their senior years out of their struggles and "arrested adult development." For example, there was one woman who kept moving from city to city because she hadn't yet seen the nature of her impulsive behaviour and how it was linked to her projecting her inner critic onto people. When she saw that this was related to a childhood developmental issue, she calmed down. Another individual felt a lot of emotions around getting old and wanted to deny her various losses by becoming a hypochondriac. Once she saw what she was doing, she calmed down as well. It turns out that hypochondria is sometimes a defense against mourning.
One distinction made between child and adult development is that in adulthood, spiritual practices are consciously employed for one's development.
The idea of adult development has been around for quite some time. "The relevant basic themes we found in ancient writings can be summarized as follows:
1. A comprehensive, chronological life cycle can be described.
2. Adulthood is not static; the adult is in a constant state of dynamic change and flux, always 'becoming' or 'finding the way.'
3. Development in adulthood is contiguous with that in childhood and old age.
4. There is continual need to define the adult self, especially with regard to the integrity of the inner person versus his other external environment.
5. Adults must come to terms with their limited span and individual mortality. A preoccupation with time is an expression of these concerns.
6. The development and maintenance of the adult body and its relationship to the mind is a universal preoccupation.
7. Narcissism, that is, love of self, versus responsibility to the society in which one lives and the individuals in that society toward whom one bears responsibility as an adult, is a central issue in all civilized cultures." pg 12
I think the subject of Adult Development, also the title of one of the authors' earlier books, or "conscious aging" offers an encouraging point of view for a more harmonious and heartful way of living.
Review
Markus Youssef
3.0 out of 5 starsAdulthood as a Lifelong Work in Progress
May 19, 2014
Format: Hardcover
The title of this book refers to the idea that during a person's second half of life, they may ask themselves: Is this all there is in life? Have I lived the life I was supposed to have lived? Where has the time gone? What is my legacy? This may lead to a new relationship with time. This issue with time happens because many of the things we experienced and learned about ourselves took place during the time when the timelessness of the unconscious was present without the availability of the explicit memory system, leaving us to question our acquired childhood beliefs in adulthood. For example,
"In Transformations: Growth and Change in the Adult life (1978), Roger Gould explored the effects of childhood experience on adult development. He postulated four assumptions ... (1) 'We'll always live with our parents and be their child'; (2) They'll always be there to help when we can't do something on our own'; (3) 'Their simplified version of our complicated inner reality is correct, as when they turn the light on in our bedroom to prove there are no ghosts'; and (4) 'There is no real death ... " pg 14
This reminds me and makes me wonder about a full-page featured article I once saw written up in a Canadian newspaper entitled "Baby Waiters" where the word 'Boomers' was crossed out underneath the word 'Waiters.' The author of the article wondered if some baby boomers were just waiting around for their inheritances and therefore felt no real need to engage in adult development or question assumptions like those above.
Robert Bly also wrote a book entitled, Sibling Society, highlighting the importance of adult development.
Colarusso and Neimroff emphasize that human development is a lifelong process that continues on from whatever model of child development one subscribes to. "... whereas childhood development is focused primarily on the formation of psychic structure, adult development is concerned with the continuing evolution of existing psychic structure and with its use" pg 61 For example, one adult task is to form friendships that match with one's current values/vision but if the idea of friendship is an all-or-nothing proposition, then the childhood task of advancing out of the defense mechanism of splitting might still be present and therefore both splitting and 'friends as partners on the spiritual journey' need to be simultaneously looked at.
Most of this book is a description of how the authors worked with several individuals in their senior years out of their struggles and "arrested adult development." For example, there was one woman who kept moving from city to city because she hadn't yet seen the nature of her impulsive behaviour and how it was linked to her projecting her inner critic onto people. When she saw that this was related to a childhood developmental issue, she calmed down. Another individual felt a lot of emotions around getting old and wanted to deny her various losses by becoming a hypochondriac. Once she saw what she was doing, she calmed down as well. It turns out that hypochondria is sometimes a defense against mourning.
One distinction made between child and adult development is that in adulthood, spiritual practices are consciously employed for one's development.
The idea of adult development has been around for quite some time. "The relevant basic themes we found in ancient writings can be summarized as follows:
1. A comprehensive, chronological life cycle can be described.
2. Adulthood is not static; the adult is in a constant state of dynamic change and flux, always 'becoming' or 'finding the way.'
3. Development in adulthood is contiguous with that in childhood and old age.
4. There is continual need to define the adult self, especially with regard to the integrity of the inner person versus his other external environment.
5. Adults must come to terms with their limited span and individual mortality. A preoccupation with time is an expression of these concerns.
6. The development and maintenance of the adult body and its relationship to the mind is a universal preoccupation.
7. Narcissism, that is, love of self, versus responsibility to the society in which one lives and the individuals in that society toward whom one bears responsibility as an adult, is a central issue in all civilized cultures." pg 12
I think the subject of Adult Development, also the title of one of the authors' earlier books, or "conscious aging" offers an encouraging point of view for a more harmonious and heartful way of living.
Adult Development: A New Dimension in Psychodynamic Theory and Practice (Critical Issues in Psychiatry) by Calvin A. Colarusso and Robert A. Nemiroff (Jul 31, 1981)
Review
K. masters
4.0 out of 5 starsA interesting approach to adult development despite being written 35 years ago
February 16, 2015
Format: Hardcover
I was actually taught by these authors in my residency and child fellowship. I have been reading this book in preparation to teaching residents today [2015] about adult development. The book is extensively referenced and well written. Three of the central issues center around 1) adult men's development in light of their identification with their fathers, 2) foreshortened sense of time that awakens around age 40 with a reorganization of life goals around reordering of life priorities and the competitive issues especially sexual around aging stimulated by teenage to adult children, These issues may not be core conflicts at least in some individuals today/ However, the theses of the book are good starting points for considering formulations about adult patients.
These is some material about women's adult development including the close bond between adult mothers and their daughters. There is a section on hysteria in women also which seems to leave out the consideration of PTSD as contributing or alternative explanation.
I had a discussion with my adult son about these issues and he has an interest in social science learning theory . One of the suggestions in this theory is that the groups people chose in teenage and adulthood and whether they are in or out of the group may substantially affect their attitudes and beliefs about the issues discussed about..
Review
K. masters
4.0 out of 5 starsA interesting approach to adult development despite being written 35 years ago
February 16, 2015
Format: Hardcover
I was actually taught by these authors in my residency and child fellowship. I have been reading this book in preparation to teaching residents today [2015] about adult development. The book is extensively referenced and well written. Three of the central issues center around 1) adult men's development in light of their identification with their fathers, 2) foreshortened sense of time that awakens around age 40 with a reorganization of life goals around reordering of life priorities and the competitive issues especially sexual around aging stimulated by teenage to adult children, These issues may not be core conflicts at least in some individuals today/ However, the theses of the book are good starting points for considering formulations about adult patients.
These is some material about women's adult development including the close bond between adult mothers and their daughters. There is a section on hysteria in women also which seems to leave out the consideration of PTSD as contributing or alternative explanation.
I had a discussion with my adult son about these issues and he has an interest in social science learning theory . One of the suggestions in this theory is that the groups people chose in teenage and adulthood and whether they are in or out of the group may substantially affect their attitudes and beliefs about the issues discussed about..