Welcome to a peek at my first book, Keep Your Eye on
the Prize! This
is a young person’s guidebook to adulthood, containing the best psychological
tools for dealing with life, like difficult people, finding a life that fits,
and surviving hard times. This posting will give you some information on the book, which you can check out through my Website: www.barbaralongmdphd.com
INTRODUCTION—The
Story Behind Keep Your Eye on the Prize!
In
2009, I was surprised and honored to receive a Hiram Hunn Award for over 30
years of service to the Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Admissions. After
this, I decided to “give back” set pen to paper to write this book, which is
targeted for parents and young people from age 15 through the 20s “and beyond,”
as well as school and mental health counselors, clerical counselors, educators,
and educational administrators. The book takes you through the transformational
journey from adolescence to young adulthood, helping untangle this turbulent
time, while providing helpful “tools” to make the journey easier. This
non-academic guide selects from a universe of psychological principles distilling
a few vital concepts that have been helpful to many young people. Illustrated
with true stories, this pocket-sized guide is full of real life wisdom. An
invaluable resource and book of wisdom
Winston
Groom, author of Forrest Gump, and
father of a high school student himself, described Keep Your Eye on the Prize! as “Absolutely
essential for anyone leaving home for the first time. Avoid this book at your peril. Read it, absorb it, and you’ll never be
stupid again!”
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Forward
Introduction
Chapter
1: Your personal Prism and Type
Chapter
2: The Challenges of the Transition—Trying Things Out and Managing Independence;
Recognizing and Addressing Problems
Chapter
3: Adjustment & Transformation in the Journey of Life—Growing from “I” to
“We”
Chapter
4: A Four Quadrant Model for achieving balance in life
Chapter
5: The Emotional Quadrant and the Process of Individuation
The
Soul and the Emotions—Happiness and Pain
The Psychological Tasks
of Life
The
Conscious and the Unconscious
The Role
of the Defenses
Encounter
With the Shadow
Falling
in Love
Emotional
Suffering—Anxiety, Shame, Humiliation, Jealousy, Envy, Anger,Rage
Humor
Forgiveness Loss
Chapter
6: Sisyphus and the Archetypal Problem of “Rowing Upstream”
Chapter
7: The Miracle of Healing
Chapter
8: Synchronicity—a Miraculous Coincidence
Chapter
9: Finding Your Archetype
Chapter
10:
Confidence, Choice, and Self-Knowledge
Chapter 11: “Keep Your Eye on the Prize!”
ENDORSEMENTS
“Absolutely essential for anyone leaving home for
the first time. Avoid this book at your peril. Read it, absorb it--and you'll
never be stupid again!”
Winston
Groom, author of Forrest Gump
and parent of a high school student
“This is an outstanding book for students entering
college. It spells out typical psychological and social problems, guides the
reader to understand underlying causes and mental mechanisms and gives superb
direction in dealing with these problems. It is must reading for students
and their counselors.”
Stephen
Scheiber, M.D.
Past
Executive Vice-President, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Past
President, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, the profession’s oldest
“think tank”
“Dr.
Barbara Long’s book, Keep Your Eye on the
Prize!, is a powerful addition to the literature. It provides a wealth of
information for young people and those who counsel and interact with them. The
book includes, as well as many other sections, a very understandable
integration of psychodynamic concepts and real life experiences. Also a section
on social networking and the Internet in today’s world is very important with
an understanding of feelings and behavior as they relate to this area and the
important need for boundaries. The book has uplifting and valid information
for all. I strongly endorse it.”
Marcia Kraft Goin, M.D., Ph.D.
Past President, American Psychiatric Association
Marcia Kraft Goin, M.D., Ph.D.
Past President, American Psychiatric Association
Professor
of Clinical Psychiatry
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
“Keep
Your Eye on the Prize! is an excellent guide for
college-bound high school youth and their parents, but it also would be a
valuable resource for educators and counselors. It explains the
psychological constructs associated with the transition from adolescence to
young adulthood in a refreshing literary style that uses case vignettes and
information tools accompanying each chapter. I plan to add this “prize”
to my library and anticipate I will be referring to it regularly.”
Beth
Ann Brooks, M.D., M.S.A.
Professor and Associate Chair for
Education
Wayne
State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Program
Director, Psychiatry and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Programs,
Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University
“Going off to college is an exciting, challenging
and at times stressful life-changing event. It is a transition that requires
learning new psychological and interpersonal tools.
Barbara
Long's Keep Your Eye on the Prize is a clear and well-written
"toolbox" that parents will want in their children’s backpacks or
e-book reader and that educators should share with their students.”
Jack Drescher, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, New York Medical College
Jack Drescher, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, New York Medical College
President-Elect,
Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Emeritus Editor, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health
Emeritus Editor, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health
“This book is a treasure during a
hyper-uncertain time in a young person's life. It covers all the practical
bases a student encounters as they enter and continue their journey throughout
college. It is wise and eminently readable. Strongly recommended.”
Barrie
Sanford Greiff, MD
Psychiatrist, Harvard University Health Services and Psychiatrist to the Harvard Business School, Emeritus
Psychiatrist, Harvard University Health Services and Psychiatrist to the Harvard Business School, Emeritus
"A great time was had by all
who attended [the annual Harvard Club of MN send-off party]... We gave one of
your books to [the host] and one to a [past President]. The others were glommed
up instantly by some of the students. The others were left wanting... I'll have
the MN Club send [more books] out to this wonderful crop of students. Thanks ever
so much for sharing your writing capabilities and thoughtfulness in this great
primer for the adolescent cadre/cohort."
Ray
Payne, Past President of the Harvard Club of MN
“Barbara Long’s insightful book breaks new ground by
examining the later years of adolescence and of early adulthood, rarely
considered together. In today’s world, that passage is ever more complex and
this work provides valuable insights, helpful reference materials, and
compelling illustrations of the journey. Whether you are an adolescent, young
adult, parent, educator, counselor, or clinician, you will be better informed,
indeed strengthened, by this book.”
Lance
Odden, Headmaster Emeritus, The Taft School
“This good book written by Dr. Barbara Long is, in
my opinion, is a most useful and practical guide for young people. It is hard
to be a young person these days, so to have wise and caring words of problem
solving advice available in a pocket guide is wonderful. I wholeheartedly
endorse this inspirational work which I believe will serve young people and
their parents quite well.”
Frank
D. Millet
Director
of Admission Emeritus, Milton Academy