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  • The Drama of the Gifted Child

  • The Search for the True Self
  • Written by: Alice Miller
  • Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
  • Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (121 ratings)

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The Drama of the Gifted Child

Written by: Alice Miller
Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
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Publisher's Summary

This best-selling book examines childhood trauma and the enduring effects it has on an individual's management of repressed anger and pain.

Why are many of the most successful people plagued by feelings of emptiness and alienation? This wise and profound book has provided millions of people with an answer—and has helped them to apply it to their own lives.

Far too many of us had to learn as children to hide our own feelings, needs, and memories skillfully in order to meet our parents' expectations and win their "love". Alice Miller writes, "When I used the word 'gifted' in the title, I had in mind neither children who receive high grades in school nor children talented in a special way. I simply meant all of us who have survived an abusive childhood thanks to an ability to adapt even to unspeakable cruelty by becoming numb.... Without this 'gift' offered us by nature, we would not have survived."

But merely surviving is not enough. The Drama of the Gifted Child helps us to reclaim our life by discovering our own crucial needs and our own truth.

©1997 Basic Books (P)2018 Hachette Audio

What the critics say

"Narcissism has rarely been written about with the clarity and quiet insights of this modest, thought-provoking work." (Washington Post Book World)

"An unpretentious little book with an amazing impact.... Many readers find themselves portrayed with an accuracy and empathy that seem uncanny, as if the author had been a silent, unseen witness to their childhood [and] their innermost and secret selves." (Vogue)

"Rare and compelling in its compassion and its unassuming eloquence...her examples are so vivid and so ordinary they touch the hurt child in us all" (The New York Magazine)

What listeners say about The Drama of the Gifted Child

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I loved it

it was eye opening to say the least and gave me a sense of deeper self understanding and love 💕

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Simply Fantastic!

This was a very enlightening book and I'll be buying it in hard copy so that I can write in it and take notes. I enjoyed listening to it first and the performance of the narrator is quite good. Blows my mind this was written so long ago but is still extremely relevant even till today.

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Amazing 👏

Absolutely must listen to this incredible book. It had me captured and reflecting on every word along the way. Anyone remotely interested in healing from past trauma should definitely consider this read.

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1 person found this helpful

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A profound experience

This book has had an enormous impact on me, possibly more than any other book. Almost word for word, start to finish, it explains the story of my life. I've been searching, studying, learning and growing for the past 4 years since my initial awakening. This book helped me put pieces of the puzzle together that I previously wasn't able to see. The brilliant thing is that I've had a significant internal shift as a result of this book, which is now projecting into the world around me. A brilliant book for understanding more about the shadow and how to integrate it into life in a healthy way.

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4 people found this helpful

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definitely worth it

it was difficult to listen to until it wasn't, and without much of a transition I felt like it was speaking to me. I've recommended it to friends with drastically different upbringings who I knew would also relate. Maybe we're in this cycle because we're biologically made to, but we're in the beginning steps of solving the equation without involving another child to relive our own traumas
obvi subjective and case by case, but worth the perspectives it give

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    3 out of 5 stars

Convoluted, superficial, hard to follow

The way this is written feels more like a monologue, an after thought or someone thinking aloud who goes back-and-forth, touches on many different and same topics at different times unexpectedly. Every comment is made so superficially that you never really get to experience any depth to what is being said. Something very relevant may be said but it is only a sentence, and then it moves on to a completely different idea. Nothing is fully explored. I have read several books on similar topics and this is by far my least favourite and the hardest to follow.

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