Retirement Experiences of Psychologists

Reviews / Votes

"Obviously, this is a very readable and interesting volume. The editors directed the contributors to write their chapters in story format and the contributors not only complied, but were extremely open and willing to self-disclose. That's part of what makes it so readable. The interesting part is how many variations there are on what retirement means to people. I have said that we have taught people how to how to exercise and eat right to live long lives and to manage their finances in preparation for retirement, but not how to plan for a meaningful post-work life. The result of this oversight would be a large cadre of people who were, healthy, wealthy and bored! Fortunately, none of the 14 story tellers fits that model of having nothing to do in retirement. They have all maintained purpose in their lives. They all serve as wonderful role models for other psychologists anticipating the time when they will leave work behind them. This is especially true for women approaching retirement because there were so few women in the profession before them. [...] [This] is a valuable book for psychologists in every work environment who wonder when and how to retire successfully."Dorothy W. Cantor, PsyDFormer President, American Psychological Association"Recognizing the wide array of settings in which psychologist work, Pat DeLeon and Rod Baker asked individuals who had worked in different settings, and had differing times since they retired, to write, short personal essays on their experiences with retirement and how they moved through critical aspects of the experience. The resulting book is informative reading for those near retirement and those for whom retirement is over the horizon. It provides a way to conceptualize what each individual might gain in retirement and provides permission to explore many ideas and fail often, and begin again. This may be a lesson for many things in life, but it is wonderfully presented the stories in this book."Robert G. Frank, PhDPast President, University of New Mexico; Director, Center for Innovation in Health and Education; MPH Program Director, College of Population Health