The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Cruel Parenting (Paperback)

~ Alice Miller (Author), Andrew Jenkins (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Alice Miller's arguments are lucid, closely reasoned, and utterly convincing. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review, Elaine Kendall

Alice Miller’s arguments are lucid, closely reasoned, and utterly convincing. (Elaine Kendall - Los Angeles Times Book Review )

Product Description

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, "readers will learn how to confront the overt and covert traumas of their own childhoods with the enlightened guidance of Alice Miller." .

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393328635
• ISBN-13: 978-0393328639
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,178 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #38 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Family Relationships > Child Abuse
  #54 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Abuse & Self Defense > Sexual Abuse

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, life-changing reading experience, July 30, 2006

By	Barbara Rogers "author of screams from childhood" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Alice Miller's "The Body Never Lies" is a provocation for those who are intent on denying that there is a relationship between how children are being treated and how they, later as adults, live their lives. They will fight against this book with those sad beliefs, which they learned in their childhoods and never questioned or left behind. But for those, for whom these connections are a fact and who are willing to explore their own past, their own lives and childhood suffering, this book provides great relief, even liberation.
On her life journey of research and writing, Alice Miller has gained great inner freedom and strength. In `The Body Never Lies', she courageously questions traditional morality and inspires us to face the often life long pain that children suffer through their parents. Her profound insights into this vital relationship create a truthful vision of man and his coercion to be destructive and self-destructive. Her visionary humanity leads the way into a new era, where the source of needless human suffering is movingly and powerfully recognized.
Like in an invisible jail, the fourth command confines many people into untruthful relationships with their parents, from which they often suffer. Abused and disrespected in childhood, they strive, still during their adult lives, to reach and even please cruel parents, who do not wish to understand and support them, who do not care about their well-being.
As long as they are under the spell of this command, they also often suffer in similar ways in other close relationships, denying their truth and reality like they had to as children with their parents. But there is a powerful witness to the suffering we endure through hypocritical, painful relationships--our body. Although we are trained to follow those moralistic expectations to honor our parents, no matter how they have treated us as children or treat us now as adults--the body refuses to do so. Again and again, it tries to communicate the tragic experiences that we carry hidden inside, in the unconscious. Alice Miller invites us to listen to and understand our bodies and ourselves with love by moving away from the destructive command that we must honor those who cause us harm and hurt us.

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The siren for early abuse, March 8, 2007

By	Fred Worth "Fred Worth" (Burnsville, MN United States) - See all my reviews

I have been reading the author's books since the early 80's. Mrs Miller has some very important things to say about what most people consider to be a "normal" childhood experience. Being older I experienced much of the more extreme examples in her new book and I can attest to the debillitating affects she describes. She writes very well and the translators in all of her books are very good.
My only criticism is that she is still only writing about the problem and offers no solutions. I felt sad that she knows exactly what I went through but can not offer me any help beyond the knowing that I am not alone in my experience. But her purpose is sounding the alarm so I can not fault her for that.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of her best!, January 9, 2007

By	Angela "ABrinskele" (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I believe in this work.
I look forward to a world of people who have healed from childhood abuse.
Can you imagine an adult praising and honoring a stranger who attacked them? Shaming quiet victims is a mistake.
It is time for us to stop honoring abusers which Miller says is unnatural and destructive.
I really respect her consistent willingness to discuss her own misconceptions on things. She is insightful, well experienced and well educated on the subject. Angela Brinskele, Director of Communications, The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives