Home / Authors / Alice Miller

Alice Miller Quotes

Psychologist

Alice Miller, born on January 12, 1923, and died on April 12, 2010, was a renowned psychologist. Her research focused on child psychology and the psychology of abuse, delving deeply into the psychological impact of child abuse and neglect.

Filter quotes by topic

All Children Childhood Parent Feelings Ifs Child Abuse Psychology Facts Long Mother Persons Suffering Needs People Has Beens Therapy Feels For Your Own Good Our Children Self

Famous Alice Miller Quotes

“It is not the trauma itself that is the source of illness but the unconscious, repressed, hopeless despair over not being allowed to give expression to what one has suffered and the fact that one is not allowed to show and is unable to experience feelings of rage, anger, humiliation, despair, helplessness, and sadness. This causes many people to commit suicide because life no longer seems worth living if they are totally unable to live out all these strong feelings that are part of their true self.”

Psychology Loneliness Expression Despair Suicide Trauma Therapy True Helplessness Authentic Self

Book:For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Source: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

“I cannot listen to my child with empathy if I am inwardly preoccupied with being a good mother; I cannot be open to what she is telling me. This can be observed in various parental attitudes.”

Psychology Listening Empathy Trauma Therapy Narcissistic Wound

Book:For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Source: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

“The change from rage to sorrow makes it possible for the vicious circle of repetition to be broken.”

Freedom Psychology Expression Sorrow Happy Rage Redemption Therapy Resiliency

Book:For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Source: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

“Rage and pain can apparently pass quickly if one is free to express them.”

Freedom Power Psychology Expression Happy Authenticity Therapy Resiliency

Book:For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Source: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

“It is not the psychologists but the literary writers who are ahead of their time.”

Healing Psychology Writer Psychoanalysis Neurosis

Book:For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Source: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

“Narcissistic cathexis of the child by the mother does not exclude emotional devotion. On the contrary, she loves the child as her self-object, excessively, though not in the manner that he needs, and always on the condition that he presents his "false self." This is no obstacle to the development of intellectual abilities, but it is one to the unfolding of an authentic emotional life.”

Psychology Narcissism Narcissistic Abuse

Book:The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self

Source: The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self

“Cruelty is the opposite of love, and its traumatic effect, far from being reduced, is actually reinforced if it is presented as a sign of love.”

Psychology Child Abuse

Book:Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries

Source: Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries

“Had he made the entire world his victim, he still would not have been able to banish his introjected father from his bedroom, for once own unconscious cannot be destroyed by destroying the world.”

Psychology Hatred Revenge Holocaust Hitler Victimizing Introject

Book:For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Source: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

“What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood.”

Pain Suffering Language Understanding Psychology Anxiety Understood Addiction Recovery Distress Anguish Signals Symptoms Discomfort Plight Addiction Recovery Addicts In Recovery Alcohol Recovery

Book:Breaking down the wall of silence: the liberating experience of facing painful truth

Source: Breaking down the wall of silence: the liberating experience of facing painful truth

“Children who are respected learn respect. Children who are cared for learn to care for those weaker than themselves. Children who are loved for what they are cannot learn intolerance. In an environment such as this, they will develop their own ideals, which can be nothing other than humane, since they grew out of the experience of love.”

Love Children Care Psychology Environment Grew Respect Ideals Experience Caring Tolerance Intolerance Humane Raising Children Caring For Others Love And Respect Children Learning

Book:Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society's Betrayal of the Child

Source: Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society's Betrayal of the Child

“Ultimately the body will rebel. Even if it can be temporarily pacified with the help of drugs, cigarettes or medicine, it usually has the last word because it is quicker to see through self-deception than the mind. We may ignore or deride the messages of the body, but its rebellion demands to be heeded because its language is the authentic expression of our true selves and of the strength of our vitality.”