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Summary: This book saved my life...
Review: This book, plus having gifted and understanding counselor, helped me see how the years I formed as a person, and the things that happened--shaped my life, my saddness, my anger, and ultimately my resolution.I disagree with those who flatley read it as "blaming" one's parents. Finding out what unfair things happened to one by their parents, and then demanding the chance to confront them--is the healthiest thing I have ever done. It brought reconcilation between my father and I after 15 years of not speaking. But he did have to answer my questions... parents don't have the right to always be right... that makes for a very unhealthy society. Alice Miller helped me find it, and ultimately my father. Read this, and all her books. Look beyond the walls that society and our parents set for us... It's a wonderful and beautiful garden that lays beyond....
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Summary: Good Concept, but Unfocused
Review: The title is a little misleading: It is not about "gifted children" in the sense we would think of it in the U.S.. The "gift" is the defense some children build to protect themselves from overbearing parents. A lot seems to be lost in the translation from German. A good book for making it's point, but written by a therapist for other therapists who suffer from the same syndrome. After making her point in the first few chapters the author wanders off into a confusing web of irrelevnce. This book is apparently an excerpt from a larger book. As far as it goes in explaining the suppressed personality problems it is good, and can provide a lot of insight for people who had overbearing parents, but provides little help with the problem.
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Summary: A classic in serious need of revision
Review: Miller clearly states in her 1990 preface that her entire psychological orientation has radically changed since writing this book. Yet, she has opted to leave Drama in its original form. Considering the constrictions "orthodox" psychoanalytic theory place on thought, I would love to see the drama free of these colorings. Be that as it may, virtually every first-born baby boomer can profit from this book! Our fathers were largely absent. Our mothers were forced into social straightjackets that stunted their humanity. The false selves this environment produced has left a legacy of emotional pain that continues to fuel the therapy industry. As Miller contends, our only hope lies in "the emotional discovery and emotional acceptance of the truth in the individual and unique history of our childhood." This book calls us to this historical, and personal, task.
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Summary: Somewhat Disappointing
Review: This book has one or two extremely important insights, however in the many years since the original hardcover publication they have become fairly widely disseminated. As a result, when I read this book, my reaction was "Is this all there is?". For today's reader, there is a lack of exploration of these insights and importantly, the summary of the book here on amazon.com is misleading in saying that it provides guidance on how to overcome the damage done in childhood. This last point is what I was looking for in the book and it says little other than suggesting a route to explore within traditional pyschotherapy.
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Summary: An Extremely Brave and Insightful Work
Review: I am on my second reading of "Drama" and am finding it even more riveting. It seems written for me personally. Miller takes on the reigning Freudian methodology with the heretical insight that even well-meaning parents can contribute to the suppression of their children's true selves. It is common knowledge that Freud initially determined that his "hysterical" female patients had often been sexually abused by men in positions of trust and power in their lives, but that the medical society of the time refused to believe this. In order to not be thrown out of the Viennese Medical Society, Freud came up with ingenious but destructive theories (Oedipal complex, etc.) to explain his patients' symptoms. Miller takes us back to the truth - that early childhood trauma and betrayal causes peculiarly destructive symptoms in adult life, and that the situation is further complicated by the psychological process of denial and suppression. The victims even feel positive about their tormentors, so that they can survive (the "Stockholm syndrome"). Miller relates this process to the now well-documented "post-traumatic stress syndrome", but argues that it is even more difficult to understand and undo when the trauma happens not to fully formed adults, but to pre-verbal children, who can only feel the pain, but cannot express its cause. The memories can be suppressed, but the feelings and their effects cannot be eradicated without witnessing them as an adult. This is a very liberating discovery for one who has been traumatized as a child, and leads to methods of recovery that provide hope for adult sufferers. Interestingly, in the preface to the 1994 edition, Miller enthusiastically credits the methods of J. Konrad Stettbacher with helping her overcome her own symptoms of childhood abuse. In the 1996 version, this forward is omitted, as is any reference to Stettbacher's work. I wonder if that is because Miller has changed her mind about his methods, or if there was some kind of proprietary struggle? In any event, "Drama" is a seminal work, and will likely reverberate in the psychotherapy community for a long time to come. A must-read for anyone struggling with the effects of their childhood - and who isn't? Give a copy to your shrink, your parents, your kids, your significant other...but be prepared for some interesting dinner conversations!
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Summary: The best psychological book I have ever read
Review: It is not only the content that is excellent but also her writing style. It is objective and not sentimental like lots of books on psychological topics. It reveals repetitive patterns that you learnt during childhood and that you pass on to your children and also experience it with your partner. Most people have a kind of "dark room" where they unconsciously hide negative feelings that only their children will experience. The only critical point is I do not believe that psychoanalysis is the only way of solving these problems, I am sure that other treatments do help as well. Anyway, a fantastic book, I nearly read it four times.
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Summary: Eerily Accurate and Immediately Helpful
Review: A very insightful book. It felt like Alice Miller had written these pages for me. I even found myself reading whole sections of text out loud! I was also surprised when I handed the book to my girlfriend, and she also remarked that the book applied to her as well. A quick note... For you to really use the material in this book, you must be willing to look into yourself and into your past. If your defense mechanisms are out in force (or if you don't realize that you even have defense mechanisms), then you will not be able to see what you have to do. (In fact, some of your defense mechnisms are there specifically to prevent access to the very content you need to get to.)
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Summary: Alice Miller knows what she's talking about.
Review: Alice Miller's departure from Freud parallels Heinz Kohut's departure from the fatalistic in psychoanalysis to an acceptance of the Ulysses archetype, one that addresses the future with hope and reason, with vitality and promise. What a gifted and insightful writer Alice Miller is!
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Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book was recommended to me by my psychologist and it has been one of her best suggestions. Miller really provides insight to those who have been searching for answers. While I don't agree with everything the author states, I think that the book is insightful, well written and sensitive. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: The Voice of Truth on a Taboo Topic...
Review: Alice Miller has written a tremendous book; children ARE born innocent---but parents are not! Freud didn't know what he was talking about; Miller does! She also gives hope by offering practical methods of overcoming what society has condoned for centuries; the wholesale soul murder of our children through "acceptable" child rearing methods. We need more books by more authors like Miller! Mary in Northville, MI (Hi friends!)
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