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

by Miller, Alice

• ISBN13: 9780465016907
• ISBN10: 0465016901
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-22
• Publisher: BASIC BOOKS

Summary

Why are many of the most successful people plagued by feelings of emptiness and alienation? This wise and profound book has provided thousands of readers with an answerand 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 Childhelps us to reclaim our life by discovering our own crucial needs and our own truth.

Author Biography

Alice Miller has achieved worldwide recognition for her work on the causes and effects of childhood traumas. Her books include The Drama of the Gifted Child, Banished Knowledge, Breaking Down the Wall of Silence, Thou Shalt Not Be Aware, and For Your Own Good. She lives in Switzerland.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	vii
1 THE DRAMA OF THE GIFTED CHILD AND HOW WE BECAME PSYCHOTHERAPISTS	1	(26)
The Poor Rich Child	4	(4)
The Lost World of Feelings	8	(6)
In Search of the True Self	14	(5)
The Therapist's History	19	(5)
The Golden Brain	24	(3)
2 DEPRESSION AND GRANDIOSITY: TWO RELATED FORMS OF DENIAL	27	(42)
The vicissitudes of the Child's Needs	27	(6)
Healthy Development	28	(2)
The Disturbance	30	(3)
The Illusion of Love	33	(19)
Grandiosity	34	(3)
Depression as the Reverse of Grandiosity	37	(3)
Depression as Denial of the Self	40	(12)
Depressive Phases During Therapy	52	(4)
Signal Function	53	(1)
Suppression of Essential Needs	53	(1)
The Accumulation of Strong, Hidden Feelings	54	(1)
Confronting the Parents	55	(1)
The Inner Prison	56	(13)
A Social Aspect of Depression	62	(4)
The Legend of Narcissus	66	(3)
3 THE VICIOS CIRCLE OF CONTEMPT	69	(48)
Humiliation for the Child, Disrespect for the Weak, and Where It Goes from There	69	(13)
Working with Contempt in Therapy	82	(13)
Damaged Self-Articulation in the Compulsion of Repeat	83	(2)
Perpetuation of Contempt in Perversion and Obsessive Behavior	85	(10)
"Depravity" as "Evil" in Hermann Hesse's Childhood World	95	(8)
The Mother as Society's Agent During the First Years of Life	103	(3)
The Loneliness of the Contemptous	106	(5)
Achieving Freedom from Contempt and Respecting Life	111	(6)
AFTERWORD	117	(10)
WORKS CITED	127	(2)
APPENDIX	129	(3)
INDEX	132