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.

The ,,true" Drama of the Gifted Child is a biography of the famous childhood researcher Alice Miller. As her son and as an experienced psychotherapist I discovered the secret who Alice Miller really was. My mother always cared that nothing of her private life got public. She created a fictional character in her books and in mine she gets a real person, a man of flesh and blood.It's also my history because I describe, how it is when you are faced, as a child and in second generation, with the not coped post-war trauma of your parents.Alice Miller created a mother image in her books she never complied. My book shows what happens when you do not overcome your traumas and you pass them on the next generation. The book is also a concrete application of Alice Miller's theory. It shows how you can overcome the terrible legacy of your parents in a therapeutical way.I can release myself of the filial involvement with my parents by having elaborated my own biography.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The path to healing is a long one, and it involves the emotional discovery of your childhood history. If you choose instead to content yourself with intellectual wisdom, you will remain in the sphere of illusion and self-deception. #2 The repression of childhood pain influences not only the life of an individual but also the society’s taboos. The typical run of biographies illustrates this very clearly. #3 The child has a need to be respected and understood from the very beginning of their life. When they are in an environment of respect and tolerance for their feelings, they are able to separate from their mother and achieve individuation and autonomy. #4 The need to be taken seriously is an important prerequisite for the healthy development of a child. If parents did not experience this climate, they will be unable to provide their child with the protection and well-being she needs to develop trust.

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.

Examines the cyclical patterns of parental exploitation and the resulting loss of self-esteem in their children.

This book is an application of Gandhi's 'nonviolent' resistance to the family context.