Abstract
In the ongoing flux of life, (the person) undergoes many changes. Arriving, departing, growing, declining, achieving, failing — every change involves a loss and a gain. The old environment must be given up, the new accepted. People come and go; one job is lost, another begun; territory and possessions are acquired or sold; new skills are learned, old abandoned; expectations are fulfilled or hopes dashed — in all these situations the individual is faced with the need to give up one mode of life and accept another (Parkes, 1972).
Today, more than at any other time in our history, people have to cope with an often bewildering variety of transitions: from home to school; from school to work; from being single to being married and — increasingly — divorced; from job to job; from job to loss of employment; retraining and re-education; from place to place and friend to friend; to parenthood and then to children leaving home; and finally to bereavements and death. Alongside these and other major life events people are having to learn to cope with the passage from one stage of personal development to another: adolescence, early adulthood, stabilization, mid-life transition and restabilization.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adams, J.L. (1974) Conceptual Blockbusting. San Francisco: Freeman.
Adams, J.D., Hayes, J. and Hopson, B. (1976) Transition: Understanding and managing personal change. London: Martin Robertson.
Aspy, D.N. and Roebuck, F.N. (1977) Kids Don’t Learn From People They Don’t Like. Amherst, Mass.: Human Resource Development Press.
Benson, H. (1977) The Relaxation Response. London: Fountain Well Press.
Breckon, W. (1976) You Are What You Eat. London: BBC Publications.
Campbell, D. (1974) If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going You’ll Probably End Up Somewhere Else. Hoddesdon, Herts.: Argus Publications.
Carkhuff, R.R. (1974a) The Art of Problem Solving. Amherst, Mass.: Human Resource Development Press.
Carkhuff, R.R. (1974b) How To Help Yourself. Amherst, Mass.: Human Resource Development Press.
Carruthers, M. and Murray, A. (1977) F/40: Fitness on forty minutes a week. London: Futura.
Cooper, K. (1977) The New Aerobics. New York: Bantam.
Downing, G. (1972) The Massage Book. New York: Random House.
Ellis, A. and Harper, R. (1975) A New Guide to Rational Living. Hollywood, Ca: Wilshire Books.
Forbes, R. (1979) Life Stress. New York: Doubleday.
Health Education Council (1976) Look After Yourself. London: Health Education Council.
Holmes, T.H. and Rahe, R.H. (1967) The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, 213–218.
Hopson, B. and Hough, P. (1973) Exercises in Personal and Career Development. Cambridge: Hobsons Press.
Hopson, B. and Scally, M. (1980a) How to cope with and gain from life transitions. In B. Hopson and M. Scally, Lifeskills Teaching Programmes No. 1. Leeds: Lifeskills Associates.
Hopson, B. and Scally, M. (1980b) Lifeskills Teaching: Education for self-empowerment. London: McGraw-Hill.
Howe, L.W. and Howe, M.M. (1975) Personalizing Education: Values clarification and beyond. New York: Hart.
Johnson. D.W. (1972) Reaching Out. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Katz, M.R. (1968) Can computers make guidance decisions for students? College Board Review, No. 72.
Kirschenhaum, H. (1977) Advanced Value Clarification. La Jolla, Ca: University Associates.
Krantzler, M. (1973) Creative Divorce. New York: M. Evans.
Lamott, K. (1975) Escape from Stress. New York: Berkley.
Mahoney, M.J. and Mahoney, J. (1976) Permanent Weight Control. New York: W.W. Norton.
Maslow, A. (1968) Towards a Psychology of Being (2nd edn). New York: Van Nostrand.
Parkes, C. M. (1972) Bereavement: Studies of grief in adult life. London: Tavistock.
Royal Canadian Air Force (1978) Physical Fitness. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Russel, P. (1977) The Transcendental Meditation Technique. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sharpe, R. and Lewis, D. (1977) Thrive on Stress. London: Souvenir Press.
Simon, S. (1974) Meeting Yourself Halfway. Hoddesdon, Herts.: Argus Publications.
Simon, S., Howe, L.W. and Kirschenhaum, H. (1972) Value Clarification. New York: Hart.
Toffler, A. (1970) Future Shock. London: Bodley Head.
Watts, A.G. and Elsom, D. (1975) Deciding. Cambridge: Hobsons Press.
Annotated reading
Adams, J.D., Hayes, J. and Hopson, B. (1976) Transition: Understanding and managing personal change. London: Martin Robertson. This is the first attempt to provide a conceptual framework to describe the psychological sequence of a transition. It is primarily a theoretical book, although some guidelines for the practitioner are available.
Hopson, B. and Scally, M. (1980) How to cope with and gain from life transitions. In B. Hopson and M. Scally, Lifeskills Teaching Programmes No. 1. Leeds: Lifeskills Associates. This is for a classroom teacher of young people and consists of a series of carefully described group exercises to teach young people about transitions and how to cope more effectively with them.
Parkes, C. M. (1975) Bereavement: Studies of grief in adult life. Harmondsworth: Penguin. This book is about more than bereavement, although this topic is discussed at great length. Parkes generalizes from bereavement to other aspects of separation and loss in people’s lives.
Copyright information
© 1982 The British Psychological Society
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hopson, B. (1982). Transition: understanding and managing personal change. In: Psychology for Careers Counselling. Psychology for Professional Groups. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16946-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16946-7_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-31881-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-16946-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)