Adam Phillips (psychologist)
A psychoanalyst who trades dogma for curiosity, writing elegant, subversive essays that make a case for the unlived life.
Born 1954 (age 72)·British psychotherapist·Birthday: September 19·Baby Boomers
Biography
Adam Phillips represents a radical departure from the often austere world of psychoanalysis. Formerly the principal child psychotherapist at London's Charing Cross Hospital, he left institutional practice to write. His essays, collected in volumes like 'Missing Out' and 'On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored,' are less clinical manuals than literary provocations. He draws equally from Freud and Shakespeare, arguing that our fantasies and frustrations are not illnesses to be cured but essential textures of a human life. Phillips champions ambivalence, distraction, and the richness of not getting what we want. In clear, aphoristic prose, he has become the rare therapist whose work is read not by patients seeking answers, but by anyone intrigued by the complex poetry of being oneself.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Adam was born in 1954, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Adam Was Born
The biggest hits of 1954
#1 Movie
White Christmas
Best Picture
On the Waterfront
#1 TV Show
I Love Lucy
Adam's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1954Born
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1959Started school
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1967Became a teenager
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1970Could drive
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1972Could vote
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $19,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" — Roberta FlackBest Picture: The Godfather
1975Turned 21
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1984Turned 30
Apple Macintosh introduced
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $59,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"When Doves Cry" — PrinceBest Picture: Amadeus
1994Turned 40
Nelson Mandela elected president of South Africa
Gas: $1.11/galHome: $90,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"The Sign" — Ace of BaseBest Picture: Forrest Gump
2004Turned 50
Indian Ocean tsunami kills over 230,000
Gas: $1.88/galHome: $157,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Yeah!" — UsherBest Picture: Million Dollar Baby
2014Turned 60
Russia annexes Crimea; Ebola outbreak in West Africa
Gas: $3.37/galHome: $160,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Happy" — Pharrell WilliamsBest Picture: Birdman
2024Turned 70
AI reshapes industries; Paris Olympics
Gas: $3.31/galHome: $372,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"Espresso" — Sabrina CarpenterBest Picture: Anora
2026Age 72 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Served as the principal child psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital in London for many years.
- Authored numerous influential essay collections, including 'On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored' and 'Missing Out.'
- Has been the general editor of the new Penguin Modern Classics translations of Sigmund Freud.
- His book 'Winnicott' is a critically acclaimed introduction to the pioneering pediatrician and psychoanalyst.
Did You Know?
He was originally a scholar of English literature before training as a psychotherapist.
Phillips is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books.
He has stated that he sees his writing and his therapeutic work as fundamentally separate activities.
He edited a selection of the letters of the poet and psychoanalyst Masud Khan.
“The reason we are so pleased to find out what other people are like is that it relieves us of the responsibility of being who we are.”
