The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self

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This bestselling book examines childhood trauma and the enduring effects it has on an individual's management of repressed anger and pain.

Why are many of the most successful people plagued by feelings of emptiness and alienation? This wise and profound book has provided millions of readers with an answer--and has helped them to apply it to their own lives.

Far too many of us had to learn as children to hide our own feelings, needs, and memories skillfully in order to meet our parents' expectations and win their "love." Alice Miller writes, "When I used the word 'gifted' in the title, I had in mind neither children who receive high grades in school nor children talented in a special way. I simply meant all of us who have survived an abusive childhood thanks to an ability to adapt even to unspeakable cruelty by becoming numb.... Without this 'gift' offered us by nature, we would not have survived." But merely surviving is not enough. The Drama of the Gifted Child helps us to reclaim our life by discovering our own crucial needs and our own truth.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780465016907

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Basic Books

Publication Date: 07-22-2008

Pages: 144

Product Dimensions: 5.30(w) x 7.95(h) x 0.50(d)

Series: Art of Mentoring Series

About the Author

Alice Miller (1923-2010) achieved worldwide recognition for her work on the causes and effects of childhood traumas. She was also the author of many books, including The Truth Will Set You Free, Banished Knowledge, Breaking Down the Wall of Silence, Thou Shalt Not Be Aware, and For Your Own Good.

What People are Saying

What People are Saying About This

Anthony Storr

"Full of wisdom and perception."

Table of Contents

Table of Contents


The Drama of the Gifted Child and How We Became Psychotherapists 1
The Poor Rich Child 4
The Lost World of Feelings 8
In Search of the True Self 14
The Therapist's History 19
The Golden Brain 24
Depression and Grandiosity: Two Related Forms of Denial 27
The Vicissitudes of the Child's Needs 27
Healthy Development 28
The Disturbance 30
The Illusion of Love 33
Grandiosity 34
Depression as the Reverse of Grandiosity 37
Depression as Denial of the Self 40
Depressive Phases During Therapy 52
Signal Function 53
Suppression of Essential Needs 53
The Accumulation of Strong, Hidden Feelings 54
Confronting the Parents 55
The Inner Prison 56
A Social Aspect of Depression 62
The Legend of Narcissus 66
The Vicious Circle of Contempt 69
Humiliation for the Child, Disrespect for the Weak, and Where It Goes from There 69
Working with Contempt in Therapy 82
Damaged Self-Articulation in the Compulsion to Repeat 83
Perpetuation of Contempt in Perversion and Obsessive Behavior 85
"Depravity" as "Evil" in Hermann Hesse's Childhood World 95
The Mother as Society's Agent During the First Years of Life 103
The Loneliness of the Contemptuous 106
Achieving Freedom from Contempt and Respecting Life 111
Afterword 117
Works Cited 121
Appendix 123
Index 127

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