The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Third Edition - Softcover

Miller, Alice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465016901 ISBN 13: 9780465016907

Publisher: Basic Books, 1997

Synopsis

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 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.

About this title

Review:

"Rare and compelling in its compassion and its unassuming eloquence...her examples are so vivid and so ordinary they touch the hurt child in us all"--The New York Magazine

"An unpretentious little book with an amazing impact...Many readers find themselves portrayed with an accuracy and empathy that seem uncanny, as if the author had been a silent, unseen witness to their childhood [and] their innermost and secret selves."--Vogue

"Narcissism has rarely been written about with the clarity and quiet insights of this modest, thought-provoking work."--Washington Post Book World

"Full of wisdom and perception."--The New Republic

About the Author:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0465016901
• ISBN 13: 9780465016907
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 144