Free from Lies: Discovering Your True Needs »

Alice Miller (1923-2010) is the author of such classic works as The Drama of the Gifted Child, Prisoners of Childhood, The Body Never Lies, From Rage to Courage, and Free from Lies.

“[Alice Miller] illuminates the dark corners of child abuse as few other scholars have done.”—Jordan Riak, NoSpank.net

Preface: Telling Children the Truth 9

I The Exiled Self

1 Depression: Compulsive Self-Deception 23

2 Mommie Dearest 42

II From Victim to Destroyer

3 How Does Evil Come into the World? 47

4 What Is Hatred? 52

5 The Wellsprings of Horror 57

6 Private Mania 61

7 Ideal Soldiers: When Will We No Longer Need Them? 73

8 Sheer Sadism 82

9 The Tragedy of Jessica 86

III Therapy: Resolving the Consequences of Early Cruelty

10 The Longest Journey, or What Can We Expect from Psychotherapy? 93

11 Taking it Personally: Indignation as a Vehicle of Therapy 98

12 Misleading Information 110

13 We Can Identify the Causes of Our Sufferings 113

14 How to Find the Right Therapist 121

15 Answers to Readers' Letters 127

IV Interviews

16 The Feeling Child: Interview, March 1987 201

17 Beyond Philosophy: Interview, November 1992 211

18 Violence Kills Love: Spanking, the Fourth Commandment, and the Suppression of Authentic Feelings: Interview, June 2005 221

19 Combating Denial: Interview, July 2005 232

V From the Diary of a Mother

20 From the Diary of a Mother 243

Notes 279

References 281