The Reluctant Adult - Revisited
An Exploration of Choice
2nd Edition
Published on 23. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
326 pages
978-1-915594-06-8 (ISBN)
Description
This new edition of a prescient masterpiece was very ahead of its time when first published over 30 years ago, and is even more urgently relevant today, exploring how to get beyond the wheel of victimhood to claim our full adulthood in freedom.
Why is it that a sense of freedom and well-being is not a more natural human state? Perhaps we are still hampered by an outdated 'Newtonian Psychology' which underpins the belief that something or somebody caused us to be the way we are. Once trapped in an endless chain of blaming, woundedness and guilt, victimhood prevails and adulthood then eludes us.
Along with our species' physical maturity, there must surely be vital aspects of the human psyche which most of us have not, as yet, brought into play. In relinquishing our present framework of thought, and opening to a more extended experience of self, spirit and ego could then be reconciled, with freedom and responsibility becoming an achievable reality. Yet letting go is precisely what we fear most. This book is an exploration of why this should be so - and an invitation to embrace our full adulthood.
"It is a real thrill to find the spiritual aspect of holism expressed with such vision and authority" Sir George Trevelyan
Why is it that a sense of freedom and well-being is not a more natural human state? Perhaps we are still hampered by an outdated 'Newtonian Psychology' which underpins the belief that something or somebody caused us to be the way we are. Once trapped in an endless chain of blaming, woundedness and guilt, victimhood prevails and adulthood then eludes us.
Along with our species' physical maturity, there must surely be vital aspects of the human psyche which most of us have not, as yet, brought into play. In relinquishing our present framework of thought, and opening to a more extended experience of self, spirit and ego could then be reconciled, with freedom and responsibility becoming an achievable reality. Yet letting go is precisely what we fear most. This book is an exploration of why this should be so - and an invitation to embrace our full adulthood.
"It is a real thrill to find the spiritual aspect of holism expressed with such vision and authority" Sir George Trevelyan
Reviews / Votes
"A powerful rejection of victimhood and a defence of our fullest humanity. For those who want to understand how society has adopted a diminished idea of human being this book is essential reading." Dennis Hayes, Emeritus Professor of Education"Jill Hall's central theory not only accounts for, and draws together, all the most important issues facing humanity at this time, but also affords a possible way forwards towards their solution." Dr Richard House, ret. senior university lecturer in Psychology
"The impact of this book has changed my way of thinking about the world." Robin Shohet, author and psychotherapist
More details
Edition
2nd Enhanced edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-915594-06-8 (9781915594068)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
JILL HALL moved to London from South Africa in her late teens to train at the Central School, spent her 20s as an actress, her 30s as a mother and philosophy student, subsequently working over four decades as an individual and group psychotherapist in Norwich. She has lectured extensively to professional bodies and universities about the ideas in The Reluctant Adult.
Content
Foreword 12
Preface to the First Edition 15
Preface to the Second Edition 18
Introduction 20
Chapter One - Psychology in Infancy 23
Chapter Two - The Great Regression 42
Chapter Three - Reclaiming the Power of the Infant 60
Chapter Four - Back to the Source 73
Chapter Five - Self-Concept and Meaning 91
Chapter Six - The Circle of Self 115
Chapter Seven - How Responsible Are We 144
Chapter Eight - The Wheel of Victimhood 176
Chapter Nine - The Dynamics of Power 206
Chapter Ten - Freedom and Destiny 241
Chapter Eleven - Towards Full Adulthood 266
Appendix One - The Power of the Child 290
Appendix Two - Victims Can't Forgive 294
Appendix Three - The Victimhood Archetype: health, illness, compliance,
causality and human consciousness 299
About the Author 323
Index 324
Preface to the First Edition 15
Preface to the Second Edition 18
Introduction 20
Chapter One - Psychology in Infancy 23
Chapter Two - The Great Regression 42
Chapter Three - Reclaiming the Power of the Infant 60
Chapter Four - Back to the Source 73
Chapter Five - Self-Concept and Meaning 91
Chapter Six - The Circle of Self 115
Chapter Seven - How Responsible Are We 144
Chapter Eight - The Wheel of Victimhood 176
Chapter Nine - The Dynamics of Power 206
Chapter Ten - Freedom and Destiny 241
Chapter Eleven - Towards Full Adulthood 266
Appendix One - The Power of the Child 290
Appendix Two - Victims Can't Forgive 294
Appendix Three - The Victimhood Archetype: health, illness, compliance,
causality and human consciousness 299
About the Author 323
Index 324