George E. Vaillant, M.D.

George E. Vaillant, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital.  He is graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School; Dr. Vaillant completed his psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. He has spent his research career charting adult development, the importance of involuntary coping mechanisms, and recovery from alcoholism. From 1970 to 2005 he was Director of the Study of Adult Development at the Harvard University Health Service. The study is arguably the longest (75 years) prospective psychosocial and medical study of males in the world. More recently, Dr. Vaillant has been interested in positive emotions and their relationship to Positive Psychology.

Dr. Vaillant has been a Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a past Class A (nonalcoholic trustee) of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he is a Fellow of the International Positive Psychology Association. He has received the Jellinek Memorial Award and American Psychiatric Association Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. Vaillant’s published works include Adaptation to Life, The Natural History of Alcoholism-Revisited, Aging Well, Spiritual Evolution, and Triumphs of Experience.