Reviving Ophelia

Mary Pipher, PhD

Penguin, Aug 1, 2005 - Psychology - 304 pages

#1 New York Times Bestseller

The groundbreaking work that poses one of the most provocative questions of a generation: what is happening to the selves of adolescent girls?

As a therapist, Mary Pipher was becoming frustrated with the growing problems among adolescent girls. Why were so many of them turning to therapy in the first place? Why had these lovely and promising human beings fallen prey to depression, eating disorders, suicide attempts, and crushingly low self-esteem? The answer hit a nerve with Pipher, with parents, and with the girls themselves. Crashing and burning in a “developmental Bermuda Triangle,” they were coming of age in a media-saturated culture preoccupied with unrealistic ideals of beauty and images of dehumanized sex, a culture rife with addictions and sexually transmitted diseases. They were losing their resiliency and optimism in a “girl-poisoning” culture that propagated values at odds with those necessary to survive.   

Told in the brave, fearless, and honest voices of the girls themselves who are emerging from the chaos of adolescence, Reviving Ophelia is a call to arms, offering important tactics, empathy, and strength, and urging a change where young hearts can flourish again, and rediscover and reengage their sense of self.

What people are saying

REVIVING OPHELIA: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

Clinical psychologist Pipher turns her attention to female adolescence in contemporary America. Pipher examines not just the girls themselves but the society they inhabit, which she terms ``girl ...

reviving ophelia

User Review  - kweenclaude - Overstock.com

i am a teenage girl and i did enoy this book. however in it dr. pipher speaks of things that can damage girls and i think that this bok was kind of damaging to girls in itself. it suggested to me that ...

About the author

Mary Pipher, Ph.D., is a psychologist and the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestsellers Reviving Ophelia, The Shelter of Each Other, and Another Country, as well as Seeking Peace and Writing to Change the World. She lives in Nebraska.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Reviving Ophelia
• Author: Mary Pipher, PhD
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin, 2005
• ISBN: 110107776X, 9781101077764
• Length: 304 pages
• Subjects: Family & Relationships / Life Stages / Adolescence; Psychology / Mental Health; Psychology / Psychotherapy / Child & Adolescent