By Elizabeth
Alice Miller, a psychoanalyst who repositioned the family as a locus of dysfunction with her theory that parental power and punishment lay at the root of nearly all human problems, died at her home in Provence on April 14. She was 87. Her death was announced Friday by her German publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag.Dr. Miller caused a sensation with the English publication in 1981 of her first book, “The Drama of the Gifted Child.” Originally titled “Prisoners of Childhood,” it set forth, in three essays, a simple but harrowing proposition. All children, she wrote, suffer trauma and permanent psychic scarring at the hands of parents, who enforce codes of conduct through psychological pressure or corporal punishment: slaps, spankings or, in extreme cases, sustained physical abuse and even torture.
Unable to admit the rage they feel toward their tormenters, Dr. Miller contended, these damaged children limp along through life, weighed down by depression and insecurity, and pass the abuse along to the next generation, in an unending cycle. Some, in a pathetic effort to please their parents and serve their needs, distinguish themselves in the arts or professions. The Stalins and the Hitlers, Dr. Miller later wrote, inflict their childhood traumas on millions.
“The Drama of the Gifted Child” struck a chord with mental health professionals. “Clinically, she is almost as influential as R.D. Laing,” the British psychologist Oliver James told The Observer of London in 2005. “Alice Miller changed the way people thought.”
More (via NYT).
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I would say that Alice Miller was the most influential living psychologist, at least in my estimation. Her insights into childhood, with its joys and miseries (mostly the latter), are unparalleled.
Unfortunately, her work is not as well known as it deserves to be. If you want to read only one book on psychology, consider Miller's For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence. And if you don't want to read any psychology books, still read this one. It should be required reading for all prospective parents, teachers, and anyone who spends time with children in any capacity, as well as anyone who ever was a child him/herself.
Our own Octopus referenced Miller's work in his fine post THE SOUL MURDER OF MICHAEL JACKSON AND THE CULTURE OF VICTIM BLAME
Cross-posted from The Middle of Nowhere.
Alice Miller had a profound influence on my life, my viewpoints, and my writings. Although I am sad about her passing, I am grateful for her life's work.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteWell said. The book sounds very worthwhile and I will get hold of it.
I should have mentioned that the entire book, For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence, is posted online. From the home page, there are imbedded links that take you to chapters and pages. Apparently, this is another legacy Alice Miller wanted us to have ... a legal copy of her book available on the World Wide Web.
ReplyDeleteOcto, I share your feelings on Miller -- and thanks a lot for the link to "Hidden Cruelty."
ReplyDeleteDino, now you can read it on-line -- perhaps it would make a good subject for our DC book group.