Alice Miller
Alice Miller (1923-2010) was a Swiss psychoanalyst and author whose writings influenced a generation of parents and educators. She was best known for her books on child development and the implications of parenting choices, particularly on emotional development.
Miller's research covered a wide range of topics from childhood development to education, trauma, and the psychological implications of creative work. Many of her works focused on the physical and emotional impacts of corporal punishment and child-rearing techniques, contending that childhood trauma can have far-reaching effects. Miller was viewed as a controversial and influential voice among professionals and parents alike.
The only child of a prosperous German family, Miller studied medicine and did psychiatric research at Basel University in Switzerland. After interning at an orphanage, she witnessed firsthand the emotional effects of emotional deprivation and neglect on children. This experience would influence her lifelong research into the effects of parenting on the emotional development of children.
In her most famous work, The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self – first published in Germany in 1979 under the title The Drama of the Caned Child – Miller argued that even moderate upbringings were damaging to children and could create lifelong psychological deficits. Here, she proposed that parents could unwittingly pass along unresolved pain and narcissistic insecurity to their children. In the 1986 English translation of the book, Miller wrote: 'It is the destiny of the gifted child to feel misunderstood and rejected. Unappreciated and unloved, he will remain marooned in a limbo of conflicting emotions, alternating between idealizing his parents and being disillusioned by them.” She argued that if parents could not provide empathy and understanding, children would come to see themselves as deficient, leading to lifelong psychological defense mechanisms and subconscious issues.
Miller's other works – such as For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence, Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society's Betrayal of the Child and her Autobiography Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries – centered around the need for parents to give children unconditional love and understanding as well as ways for adults to re-examine their own upbringing and resolve any pain or trauma stemming from it.
Over the course of her career, Miller received numerous awards from her native Switzerland and Europe, and came to be viewed as an influential figure in the fields of education and parenting. Her works have been translated into 21 languages and continue to be read and studied by parents and professionals all over the world. While her ideas were sometimes seen as controversial when first published, she has become associated with a progressive approach to parenting and education. In the words of one reviewer, 'Alice Miller’s therapeutic model helped thousands of people recognize the toll that childhood traumas take on our personal lives and how we can heal such wounds. For this she deserves our acclaim.'
