The Long-Term Effects of Trauma

In this episode, we turn to Alice Miller's book The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Cruel Parenting. What makes the book so important is that Miller is able to establish a relationship between the traumas we experience in childhood and the illnesses (mental and physical) we get in later life. At the root of the problem is the fourth commandment (Honour your mother and father). We end up being unable to see how we've been hurt because we want to protect our parents or religious community. And that leads to illness, because the body knows the truth and its only language is illness.