Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11541 in Books
• Published on: 1995-04-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 174 pages

Synopsis
The first publication of Drama of Being a Child and of this 1997 edition are separated by fifteen years of experience - the author's experience with her own self-therapy and with other recent therapy methods, and finally her knowledge of the life histories of the several thousand readers who have written to her. The research into childhood she has undertaken in this period has led to further fine-tuning of her earlier findings, as is ocumented and illustrated here with an abundance of examples. The author examines the consequences of repression at personal and social levels, the causes of the physical and psychological harm done to children and how this can be prevented, and finally the new methods at our disposal for dealing with the consequences of infant traumas.

Customer Reviews

Recipe for depression
I read this book almost thirty years ago and it sent me straight into depression. Instead of helping me to take on a responsible attitude to overcome my problems it created in me a crippling victim-attitude that took me years to overcome. Twenty five years later a former friend of mine read this book, as well. She was already depressed at the time. Unfortunately, this book worsened her depression and not long afterwards she killed herself. I am a counsellor now and I can only recommend to give this and other books of Alice Miller a miss. Do your research first. There are several interviews of Miller on the net that reveal her as a very depressed person herself. That's absolutely no surprise to me.

the only 'self help' book you will ever need
Alice Miller is the most amazing, courageous, insightful and eloquent writer I have ever read. Her books have helped me take huge leaps and strides on my journey back to my childhood to find my true self. I am still on that journey and each time i re-read 'The Drama' I find something new that helps me move forward a few more steps. I would recommend that every single person on this planet reads it and slowly the world will become a better place.

Finding the true self and then becoming it

This book is written with very deep insight, compassion, eloquence, clarity and power. Alice Miller speaks of the vital importance for us to discover our own personal truth that puts us in touch with our true self. As Ms. Miller states it can be very painful to discover our real feelings since many of us have repressed hurt feelings from childhood trauma that we have buried and we have hid these feelings not only from our parents but from ourselves as well.

What I have learned from this remarkable book is that we hide these feelings from our parents so they will `love' us, but it's not our true self that they love since it is these hidden feelings that are the manifestations of who we really are. In its place we give our parents an image of ourselves so as to make them happy. This fulfills their needs but we hide our own since we fear that the expression of our own needs will lead to parental rejection and correspondingly to a loss of their love.

When we hide and suppress these childhood unacknowledged needs then the basis of all our future relationships will be determined by these unrequited needs and they become the unconscious motivations that drive us throughout our adult lives.

It is only by getting in touch with these lost needs that we can begin to discover those missing parts of ourselves. This is just the beginning to true "self discovery" that is, it is the beginning to discovering and becoming who we truly are so that, eventually, we can become who we are truly destined to be.

A fine book indeed.