When I Grow Up cover art

When I Grow Up

Conversations with Adults in Search of Adulthood

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About this listen

When do you become an adult? What does it mean to grow up? And what are the experiences that propel us forward—or keep us stuck?

As we get older, we pass many milestones, but for some of us, it can feel as if adulthood is always just out of reach.

Journalist and psychotherapist-in-training Moya Sarner goes on a journey into what growing up really involves, and how we do it again and again throughout our lives. She draws on case studies, as well as her training, and theories of child psychology, psychoanalysis, neuroscience and more, to explore what it means to be a ‘grown up’ and how we can meet the challenges and opportunities of every stage of our lives.

©2022 Moya Sarner (P)2022 W F Howes Adulthood & Aging Developmental Psychology Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
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Beautifully read and so thought provoking and moving. I struggle with many of the issues mentioned and I feel this book will be helpful to me.

Beautiful book - thought provoking & moving

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I found this book to be an excellent exploration of the topic of "growing up".

It is written through the lense of psychodynamic therapy and therefore emphasises the inwards journey that we all go through as part of childhood into "adulthood".

The extensive use of personal stories makes the book accessible whilst also giving language to typically unexpressed thoughts and feelings. By giving these concepts space and words, it helps the reader to better engage with those topics themselves. There are lots of topics and stories to ponder, and all of the stories are engaging whilst also providing material for the greater arc of the book.

I would recommend the book to anybody who is looking to engage with their emotions about adulthood (at any age) or to anyone with an interest in their own psychology.

A meta-analysis of growing up

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Repetitive but nicely read. I decided to skip a couple of chapters for this reason. I couldn’t recommend it

Average

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In the end, the book effectively recommends Internal Family Systems; or the idea that we are multitudes. To interview 45 people is great evidence based management but this would’ve worked better as a series of podcasts WITH the people who were consulted. The consistent baby references were the author’s personal business and not related to the premise of the book.

The promise of insight

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