The Truth Will Set You Free: Overcoming Emotional Blindness and Finding Your True Adult Self - Softcover

Miller, Alice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465045855 ISBN 13: 9780465045853

Publisher: Basic Books, 2002

Synopsis

More than twenty years ago, a little-known Swiss psychoanalyst wrote a book that changed the way many people viewed themselves and their world. In simple but powerful prose, the deeply moving Drama of the Gifted Child showed how parents unconsciously form and deform the emotional lives of their children. Alice Miller's stories about the roots of suffering in childhood resonated with readers, and her book soon became a backlist best seller.In The Truth Will Set You Free Miller returns to the intensely personal tone and themes of her best-loved work. Only by embracing the truth of our past histories can any of us hope to be free of pain in the present, she argues. Miller uses vivid true stories to reveal the perils of early-childhood mistreatment and the dangers of mindless obedience to parental will. Drawing on the latest research on brain development, she shows how spanking and humiliation produce dangerous levels of denial, which leads in turn to emotional blindness and to mental barriers that cut off awareness and the ability to learn new ways of acting. If this cycle repeats itself, the grown child will perpetrate the same abuse on later generations--a message vitally important, especially given the increasing popularity of programs like Tough Love and of "child disciplinarians" like James Dobson. The Truth Will Set You Free will provoke and inform all readers who want to know Alice Miller's latest thinking on this important subject.

About this title

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.

From Publishers Weekly

With the premise that abuse begets abuse, the famed Swiss psychoanalyst mounts an eloquent argument against all forms of cruelty to children, especially corporal punishment. Believing that "[o]ur bodies retain a complete memory of the humiliations we suffered, driving us to inflict unconsciously on the next generation what we endured in childhood," she argues that childhood trauma is also manifest in many physical ailments, urging doctors to take "childhood reality" into account during treatment. However, frequent references to her other books, notably the bestselling The Drama of the Gifted Child and For Your Own Good give this slim book an air of preaching to the converted. Miller reiterates her distrust of "sadism sanctioned by religions" from Islam to U.S. Christian schools, and of behaviors that range from genital mutilation and circumcision to corporal punishment. She reserves particular concern for the Catholic Church's failure to outlaw beatings in European schools. Among her most intriguing finding is that children who survive brutality without repeating it generally have enjoyed the affection of a "Helping Witness" in their lives. Adults, too, can free themselves through rigorous analysis that acknowledges early trauma and confronts one's defense mechanisms and behavior patterns. Some forms of psychotherapy may be useful, Miller believes, but she discounts the value of "relaxation training or meditation." Even "power of love" alone can be overestimated, she says. (Sept.)Forecast: Given Miller's stature, this book will be visible, though the publicity may drive readers to her more seminal works.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0465045855
• ISBN 13: 9780465045853
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224