The Body Never Lies

The Lingering Effects of Hurtful Parenting

By: Alice Miller

Narrated by: Sara Clinton

An examination of childhood trauma and its surreptitious, debilitating effects by one of the world's leading psychoanalysts.

Never before has world-renowned psychoanalyst Alice Miller examined so persuasively the long-range consequences of childhood abuse on the body. Using the experiences of her patients along with the biographical stories of literary giants such as Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and Marcel Proust, Miller shows how a child's humiliation, impotence, and bottled rage will manifest itself as adult illness - be it cancer, stroke, or other debilitating diseases. Never one to shy away from controversy, Miller urges society as a whole to jettison its belief in the Fourth Commandment and not to extend forgiveness to parents whose tyrannical childrearing methods have resulted in unhappy, and often ruined, adult lives. In this empowering work, writes Rutgers professor Philip Greven, "[listeners] will learn how to confront the overt and covert traumas of their own childhoods with the enlightened guidance of Alice Miller."

©2005 Alice Miller (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

High quality content

I'm 26 and I really needed to read the contents of this book at this point in my life. My mother and I have been estranged for over a year due to her fundamentalist authoritarian/religious parenting. If I ever hope to be a parent someday, I need to stop the generational trauma that keeps getting handed down. Even if I don't have kids, I need to stop it desperately for myself. This book provided so much explanation behind what I am feeling, and it is very worthy of a second read!

For anyone who has ever endured pain from your parents - a must read

My story is tragic and common. This book helped me by granting me my feelings towards my parents who subjected me to cruel, chronic abuse for several decades. Thank you for your work, Alice!! What a godsend you are to me and the rest of the world for all time.

Fraud knew this in the 1890s but he had to..,

recant his story due to his peers pressure.
This was a good read and there is a lot of truth to what the author tells us.

Remarkably Enlightened

This was the first time I have ever heard a self help book about abuse not ask me to forgive. It was such a relief. I feel clarity in my journey after hearing it's ok for me to be angry and not to forgive. I still have a relationship with my parents. I have no intention on stopping it. Today I have a new approach, be angry when you need to be, it's acceptable, there's no need to rush forgiveness.

This book was amazing.

I highly recomend it this book. Her scope is a little narrow but it can be applied to a much broader scope. This is similar to The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk.