Trapped in the Magic Mirror : Shattering Illusions about Romance and Marriage

by Dunn, Deborah B.

• ISBN13: 9780781442848
• ISBN10: 0781442842
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-01
• Publisher: David C Cook

Summary

The illusion of the perfect marriage is always just out of reach. Now there's help to escape this addiction to romance and turn women to God's vision for their lives. A subtle conflicting message has been ingrained in American women that their primary goal in life is to find the Prince who will whisk them off to a Magic Kingdom and save them from the drudgery of an ordinary life. The Prince will make them feel beautiful and loved, and will meet all their emotional needs, if he truly loves them. When unmet, these unrealistic expectations lead to a constant craving for "something more." Unable to make their wives happy, husbands often react by emotionally distancing themsevles. Lonely and disillusioned, wives turn to romance novels, movies, food and shopping to fill the emptiness. Those comforts turn into addictions, and that is when women become trapped. Only by finding the "Christ within" and developing a strong sense of their own value and God's vision for their life, can women rise to their potential and overcome narcissism, emotional neediness and the addiction to romance. This comes by focusing on God instead to their husbands to meet their needs and by retraining their thinking about romance. Only then can they have the courage to become the kind of women they admire who are not dependent on romance and constant attention from husbands in order to feel good about themselves or to be happy.

Author Biography

Deborah B. Dunn is a licensed marital and family therapist in private practice in Clayton, North Carolina

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	9	(4)
Foreword by Dr. Norm Wright	13	(2)
Introduction	15	(14)
Part 1: Stepping into the Mirror
1. Life in the Magic Kingdom	29	(16)
2. When You Wish upon a Star	45	(12)
3. Where Did They Put That Fairy Dust?	57	(10)
4. The Big Event	67	(18)
Part 2: Trapped in the Magic Mirror
5. The Poison in the Apple	85	(14)
6. A House of Mirrors	99	(18)
7. Lost in the Dark Woods	117	(22)
Part 3: Shattering the Mirror
8. Your Original Design	139	(14)
9. How to Love a Prince Who Never Learned to Be Charming (or the Commoner You Already Have)	153	(20)
10. Christian Fairy Godmothers	173	(18)
11. Building Bridges, Climbing Down from Towers	191	(18)
12. Living in His Reflection	209	(16)
Original Design Inventory	225	(6)
Resource List	231	(4)
Readers' Guide	235