Alice Miller

1923–2010, Switzerland

PsychoanalysisDevelopmental psychology

Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst of Polish origin. Exposed the destructive effects of authoritarian parenting and child abuse on emotional development.

Books

  • The Drama of the Gifted Child (1979)

    Miller shows how sensitive children sacrifice their emotional needs to satisfy those of narcissistic parents, developing an adaptive false self.

  • The Body Never Lies (2004)

    Miller argues that the body expresses the emotional truth that the mind represses, and that illnesses often reflect unacknowledged childhood abuse.