Quimby Memorial Library: Life Transitions: Home

LIFE TRANSITIONS

Much like loss and grief, change is an inevitable part of the human experience. However, when an individual does not have the tools to navigate change with security and emotional introspection, they may experience depression, anxiety, or fatigue; manifest physical symptoms such as headaches and intestinal issues; and increase susceptibility to disordered eating, insomnia, and substance abuse.

When change disrupts an individual's normal coping mechanisms, that individual may be diagnosed with adjustment disorder. According to the DSM-5-TR, symptoms of adjustment disorder tend to begin within three months of the stress or change and often include a depressed or anxious mood, changes in daily habits, feelings of overwhelming stress and panic, difficulty enjoying activities, and changes in sleeping or eating.

This guide features QML's resources for understanding and applying clinical interventions toward treatemnt of challenging Life Transitions, both in clinical and wider contexts. Click a tab above to view ebooks, articles, and books on this approach. While the resources provide a well-rounded survey of our holdings on the topic, they are not comprehensive. Please contact us, if you are not seeing represented here any topics, authors, or specific foci, on which you are seeking information.

You will find links to the information you need to access and effectively use the databases housing this material, at the top of each page in this guide.

EBOOKS

Featured here are some of QML's contemporary ebooks on assisting with Life Transitions. In addition to these featured items, QML holds additional material on this topic and can access much more, via our interlibrary loan network. If you are not finding what you need here, please email us at askthelibrary@swc.edu.

You can retrieve credentials for accessing ebooks from EBSCOhost, by clicking here.

QML'S EBOOKS DATABASE

Looking for additional information and tips for effectively using QML's ebooks database? Start here.

Prevention of Maladjustment to Life Course Transitions by Moshe Israelashvili
ISBN: 9783031266997

Publication Date: 2023-06-02

This book provides a comprehensive and updated review of the concepts, models, and interventions related to the process of adjustment to life course transitions. In times of transition, an individual is exposed to experiences that require them to assume new roles and exhibit updated behaviors. Regardless of the characteristics of these transitions, exposure to normative trajectories imposes on the person an intensive engagement in a process of (re-)adjustment. Sometimes this demand is beyond the scope of one's ability, motivation, or comprehension. Hence, some people might ineffectively perceive and/or react to the change and end up feeling unable to handle the change and inclined to escape the situation. A preventive intervention that either reduces the impact of possible risk factors or fosters possible protective factors would support the people in managing the transition.
Depressive Disorders by Judy Z. Koenigsberg
ISBN: 9780367742386

Publication Date: 2023-07-01

This text demonstrates how research-based approaches may be used to treat individuals with different types of depressive disorders, such as major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, and adjustment disorder with depression. It encourages therapists to recognize that the complex themes of the depressive disorders may be more fully realized within the context of integrated and unified psychotherapy perspectives. Chapter 8, entitled Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood, deals directly with depression resulting from life transitions, and is linked directly here.
Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders by Patricia R. Casey (Editor); James J. Strain (Editor)
ISBN: 9781585625055

Publication Date: 2015-12-18

This link leads directly to a chapter in the text entitled Conceptual Framework and Controversies in Adjustment Disorders. The chapter includes a helpful breakdown of the DSM-5's diagnostic criteria for adjustment disorders, history and evolution of adjustment disorders in DSM classification, and guidelines on applying criteria to clinical practice. The chapter is a comprehensive introduction to ADs and includes several case vignettes.
The Transformational Odyssey: Finding Your Path to Personal Transformation and Self-Renewal by Robert Barner
ISBN: 9781681239828

Publication Date: 2017

This text is presented in a conversational style, as if the author were sitting down next to the reader to share my forty-plus years of experience as a personal coach and life transition counselor. Since different people learn in different ways, this book incorporates a variety of different learning methods, including actual cases, exercises, suggested actions, famous quotes, and metaphors. For those readers to would like to dig deeper on a given topic, at the end of each chapter the author has included a separate section that introduces readers to related cutting-edge research in the field of human psychology. The topics included in these sections cover such areas as mindfulness, meditation, narratives, and future selves.
The Development of Coping by Ellen A. Skinner; Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck
ISBN: 9783319417387

Publication Date: 2016-10-14

This book traces the development of coping from birth to emerging adulthood by building a conceptual and empirical bridge between coping and the development of regulation and resilience. It offers a comprehensive overview of the challenges facing the developmental study of coping, including the history of the concept, critiques of current coping theories and research, and reviews of age differences and changes in coping during childhood and adolescence. It integrates multiple strands of cutting-edge theory and research, including work on the development of stress neurophysiology, attachment, emotion regulation, and executive functions.In addition, chapters track how coping develops, starting from birth and following its progress across multiple qualitative shifts during childhood and adolescence. The book identifies factors that shape the development of coping, focusing on the effects of underlying neurobiological changes, social relationships, and stressful experiences. Qualitative shifts are emphasized and explanatory factors highlight multiple entry points for the diagnosis of problems and implementation of remedial and preventive interventions.
Counseling Adults in Transition by Mary Louise Anderson; Jane Goodman; Nancy K. Schlossberg
ISBN: 9780826106353

Publication Date: 2011-08-01

The only textbook explicitly designed to address counseling with adults who are coping with individual, relationship, and work transitions, this volume integrates the basic tenets of adult development with therapeutic practice. It is based on Schlossberg's theory of transitions, a new process and content model that offers effective techniques for helping adults to understand and successfully navigate normal life transitions.This revised edition addresses contemporary societal ills that exacerbate adult life transitions, such as a tumultuous economy, increased unemployment, bankruptcies, and foreclosures, and focuses on our increasing racial and cultural diversity. The volume also expands its consideration of spiritual and social justice issues and provides a more integrated and holistic approach to adult transitional counseling.

ARTICLES

This bibliography features peer-reviewed, searchable journals and academic articles, reporting on contemporary research, analysis, and theory related to Life Transitions in a therapeutic context. In addition to what is featured here, QML holds further material on this topic and can access much more, via our interlibrary loan network. If you are not finding what you need here, please email us at askthelibrary@swc.edu.

You can retrieve credentials for accessing articles from Taylor & Francis Online, by clicking here.

QML'S ACADEMIC ARTICLES DATABASE

Looking for information on how to access and effectively use QML's academic articles database? Start here.

Career life as a game: an overlooked metaphor for successful career transitions by Shékina Rochat & William A. Borgen
Publication Date: 2023

Meeting the psychological, social, and economic challenges of career transitions requires people to be increasingly flexible and hardy. In this article, we propose that envisioning one’s life as a game can foster well-being, coping strategies, and success with career transitions. The SuperBetter approach (McGonigal, 2015. Superbetter: A revolutionary approach to getting stronger, happier, braver and more resilient. Penguin) is presented as a metaphor that can provide clients with a new perspective for their lives and career narratives. The way each component of this metaphor can contribute to individuals’ well-being, motivation and success throughout career transitions is detailed. Implications for practice and research are discussed.
Searching for meaning: religious transitions as correlates of life meaning and purpose in emerging adulthood by Laura Upenieks
Publication Date: 2022

Achieving a sense of life meaning has been proposed as an evolutionary adaptation that promotes the human need for self-actualisation. This study explores how various dimensions of religiosity are associated with life purpose during emerging adulthood, a stage of the life course where religious decline and the search for meaning and purpose intersect. Prior studies on this topic, however, have typically not accounted for across-time fluctuations in religiosity. Therefore, using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) (2005-2008), we consider how changes in religious attendance and perceived closeness with God are associated with changes in life meaning and purpose. Results suggest that consistent or increasing attendance and closeness with God predict greater life purpose, while declines in attendance associate with lower purpose. We discuss possible mechanism that may underlie our findings within the current religious climate of the United States.
Transitions, Eating Disorders, and Changing Selves: Interlocking Psychodynamics of Identity, Self, Life Changes, and Eating Disorders by F. Diane Barth
Publication Date: 2021

Research supports anecdotal evidence that eating disorders often initially develop in conjunction with adolescent transitions, but evidence is growing that other transitions, including menopause, can also trigger these disorders. Over the course of more than three decades of working with and supervising therapists working with individuals with a wide range of eating-related symptoms, including anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, binge eating, avoidant/restrictive eating, and other variations, I have often seen that even small changes can also trigger the behaviors. For example, a number of clients report that they binge on Sunday nights as they start thinking about going back to work the next day. Visits to family (not necessarily a small transition, of course) are also frequent triggers.This article will address some of the possible interplay between unmanageable and/or unformulated affects, on the one hand, and shifts in an individual’s sense of self, on the other, which can occur in the course of a transition. Clinical material from my long-term, two-part work with a client who developed symptoms in adolescence and had a recurrence during COVID will illustrate some of these complex interactions and some of the ways that an integrative, psychodynamically-oriented framework can be used to work with these issues.
Mental health promotion and protection relating to key life events and transitions in adulthood: a rapid systematic review of systematic reviews by Eleonora P. Uphoff, Victoria Zamperoni, Jade Yap, Ruth Simmonds, Mark Rodgers, Sarah Dawson, Catherine Seymour, Antonis Kousoulis, & Rachel Churchill
Publication Date: 2022

During the decades representing working-age adulthood, most people will experience one or several significant life events or transitions. These may present a challenge to mental health.
The primary aim of this rapid systematic review of systematic reviews was to summarise available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to promote and protect mental health relating to four key life events and transitions: pregnancy and early parenthood, bereavement, unemployment, and housing problems. This review was conducted to inform UK national policy on mental health support. The study concludes that, whilst evidence based mental health prevention and promotion is available during pregnancy and early parenthood and for bereavement, it is unclear how best to support adults experiencing job loss, unemployment, and housing problems.
What are the pharmacotherapeutic options for adjustment disorder? by Jacob Hoffman & Dan J. Stein
Publication Date: 2022

This article helpfully collects contemporary data on pharmacotherapeutic methods for addressing adjustment disorder and explores literature relating evidence of efficacy and inefficacy.
Adjustment disorder: current perspectives by Paulina Zelviene &E valdas Kazlauskas
Publication Date: 2018

Adjustment disorder (AjD) is among the most often diagnosed mental disorders in clinical practice. This paper reviews current status of AjD research and discusses scientific and clinical issues associated with AjD. AjD has been included in diagnostic classifications for over 50 years. Still, the diagnostic criteria for AjD remain vague and cause difficulties to mental health professionals. Controversies in definition resulted in the lack of reliable and valid measures of AjD. Epidemiological data on prevalence of AjD is scarce and not reliable because prevalence data are biased by the diagnostic algorithm, which is usually developed for each study, as no established diagnostic standards for AjD are available. Considerable changes in the field of AjD could follow after the release of the 11th edition of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). A new AjD symptom profile was introduced in ICD-11 with 2 main symptoms as follows: 1) preoccupation and 2) failure to adapt. However, differences between the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition and ICD-11 AjD diagnostic criteria could result in diverse research findings in the future. The best treatment approach for AjD remains unclear, and further treatment studies are needed to provide AjD treatment guidelines to clinicians.
Adjustment disorder, traumatic stress, depression and anxiety in Poland during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic by Małgorzata Dragan, Piotr Grajewski, & Mark Shevlin
Publication Date: 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with a variety of stressors. Preliminary research has demonstrated that general public are experiencing a range of psychological problems, including stress-related disturbances. However, to date, there is not much research on the prevalence of adjustment disorder during the current pandemic. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of symptoms of adjustment disorder compared to posttraumatic symptoms, depression and generalized anxiety in a large sample of adult Poles, in the first phase of the current pandemic. Self-report data from a web-based sample (N = 1,742) was collected between March 25 and April 27, just after the introduction of nationwide quarantine measures in Poland. High rates of negative mental health outcomes were found in the Polish population in the first weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures. They indicate the intense current stress-related symptoms in the early phase of the pandemic and warrant further monitoring on population’s mental health.
Therapist-guided internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy versus face-to-face CBT for depression/anxiety symptoms in infertile women with adjustment disorders: A randomized controlled trial by Shiva Shafierizi, et al.
Publication Date: 2023

This study compares the effectiveness of ICBT to face-to-face CBT on the improvement of adjustment disorder symptoms in infertile women. Method: In a pragmatic, multi-center (public or private), single-blinded, non-inferior randomized controlled trial (RCT), 152 patients with AD (100 women in public center and 52 women in private canter) were assigned to ICBT and CBT. At end-of-treatment, improvements in ICBT were non-inferior to CBT for symptoms of AD, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, the non-inferiority of ICBT to CBT was maintained at a three-month follow-up.

BOOKS

Collected here are books on Life Transitions from QML's physical collection. Click a link to be taken to the book's page in the library's catalog. From there you can view additional details, check the book's availability, and place a hold. While a wealth of material on assisting client's with Life Transitions is featured here, the list is not comprehensive. Please email us, to inquire about additional resources.

Remote students: keep in mind that items in QML's physical collection are accessible to you as well. Contact library staff to have an item sent via mail, request scans of needed chapters/sections, or inquire about alternative methods of accessing these books or any other resources in our library.

Processes and Practises for Making Transitions Throughout the Course of One's Life by Barbara Stauber
Call Number: RC455.4 .L53 S73 2023

ISBN: 9781805305798

Publication Date: 2023

Doing Transitions in the Life Course: Processes and Practices contributes to the book series Life Course Research and Social Policies by providing a new perspective on transitions in the life course. Transitions are a central element of life course research and the object of social policies that undergird the institutionalized life course and affect the life trajectories of individuals. This book is the culmination of a longer process of academic networking - and a document that reflects the transformation from being colleagues to becoming friends: in 2014, Rick Settersten accepted the invitation of Andreas Walther and Barbara Stauber to serve as a "critical friend" in the process of developing a proposal to the German Research Foundation (DFG) to fund a research training group on how transitions in the life course are shaped, practiced, and performed.
Transforming Grief & Loss Workbook: Activities, Exercises & Skills to Coach Your Client Through Life Transitions by Ligia Houben
Call Number: BF575.G7H835 2017

ISBN: 9781683730026

Publication Date: 2016-12-09

Despite any loss your client may be experiencing, you can coach them to happiness again with this new workbook from Ligia M Houben. This interactive book guides the client through The 11 Principles of Transformation, derived from CBT, positive psychology, spirituality, mindfulness and meditation. By focusing on new beginnings, experiential exercises and meaningful activities, your client will be able to start the transformative journey to wellness and wellbeing.
Counting Our Losses by Darcy L. Harris (Editor)
Call Number: BF575.D35C68 2010

ISBN: 9780415875295

Publication Date: 2010-12-22

This text is a valuable resource for clinicians who work with clients dealing with non-death, nonfinite, and ambiguous losses in their lives. It explores adjustment to change, transition, and loss from the perspective of the latest thinking in bereavement theory and research. The specific and unique aspects of different types of loss are discussed, such as infertility, aging, chronic illnesses and degenerative conditions, divorce and separation, immigration, adoption, loss of beliefs, and loss of employment. Harris and the contributing authors consider these from an experiential perspective, rather than a developmental one, in order to focus on the key elements of each loss as it may be experienced at any point in the lifespan. Concepts related to adaptation and coping with loss, such as resilience, hardiness, meaning making and the assumptive world, transcendence, and post traumatic growth are considered as part of the integration of loss into everyday life experience.
Transitions by William Bridges
Call Number: HQ799.97.U5 B74 2004

ISBN: 9780738209043

Publication Date: 2004-08-11

With the understanding born of both personal and professional experience, William Bridges takes readers step by step through the three stages of any transition: The Ending, The Neutral Zone, and, eventually, The New Beginning. Bridges explains how each stage can be understood and embraced, leading to meaningful and productive movement into a hopeful future. With a new introduction highlighting how the advice in the book continues to apply and is perhaps even more relevant today, and a new chapter devoted to change in the workplace, Transitions will remain the essential guide for coping with the one constant in life: change.

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