Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Alice Miller

Quote by Alice Miller

“To forget and to repress would be a good solution if there were no more to it than that. But repressed pain blocks emotional life and leads to physical symptoms. And the worst thing is that although the feelings of the abused child have been silenced at the point of origin, that is, in the presence of those who caused the pain, they find their voice when the battered child has children of his own.”

Quote by Alice Miller

Book:Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries
Create image

Work

Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries

This book delves into the profound effects of childhood injuries on mental health, offering insights into the complex interplay between past experiences and present challenges. It examines the emotional and psychological consequences of childhood trauma, providing a nuanced understanding of the healing process. more

Author

Alice Miller
Alice Miller

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. more

You May Also Like

“If I, as a child, claim that something awful has happened—that someone has done something terrible to me—and everyone around me acts as if nothing is the matter, then either I must be crazy, or all of them are. And when you’re a kid and your life depends on all these people, there is no choice: of course, I must be crazy.”

CrazyInsaneChild Sexual AbuseIncestHealing InsightsDysfunctional FamilyDysfunctional FamiliesAbuse SurvivesIndanityThinking You Are Crazy
Book:Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women
Create image

“To heal from child sexual abuse you must believe that you were a victim, that the abuse really did take place. This is often difficult for survivors. When you’ve spent your life denying the reality of your abuse, when you don’t want it to be true, or when your family repeatedly calls you crazy or a liar, it can be hard to remain firm in the knowledge that you were abused.”

DenialChild Sexual AbuseSurvivorsIncestDysfunctional FamilyChild Sexual Abuse SurvivorRecovery From AbuseHealing Abuse
Book:The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Create image

“During sexual abuse, children feel and incorporate the rage, pain, shame, and sense of perversion that the perpetrator is projecting. They take these feelings into the very core of themselves, and they are badly traumatized by the emotions surrounding the assault, as well as by the assault itself.”

RageProjectionChild Sexual AbuseAbuse SurvivorsSurvivorsHealing InsightsTraumatizedChild Sexual Abuse Survivors
Book:Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse
Create image

“Sometimes buried memories of abuse emerge spontaneously. A triggering event or catalyst starts the memories flowing. The survivor then experiences the memories as a barrage of images about the abuse and related details. Memories that are retrieved in this manner are relatively easy to understand and believe because the person remembering is so flooded with coherent, consistent information.”

DenialAvoidanceChild Sexual AbuseAbuse SurvivorsSurvivorsHealing InsightsTrauma Memory
Book:Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse
Create image

“Some Survivors get angry at having to work at recovering from sexual abuse. They feel that it is unfair. They suffered all their life because of what someone else did to them: why do they have to suffer any more pain? This anger of “having” to do something is similar to the anger they felt at “having” to put up with the abuse.”

HealingAngerChild Sexual AbuseAbuse SurvivorsSurvivorsHealing From Abuse
Book:The Right to Innocence: Healing the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Therapeutic 7-Step Self-Help Program for Men and Women, Including How to Choose a Therapist and Find a Support Group
Create image

“Another question I am frequently asked is, "What do you mean by recovery?" It has taken me a while to answer that one. I had been depending on other people's definitions of recovery until I developed one that worked for me (just as you must come to one that makes sense for you.) Mine is simple. For me, it is about freedom. Recovery is the freedom to make choices in your life that aren't determined by the abuse. The specific choices will be different for each of you; the freedom to choose is your birthright.”

RecoveryChild AbuseChild Sexual AbuseSurvivorsHealing InsightsMale Survivor
Book:Victims No Longer: Men Recovering from Incest and Other Sexual Child Abuse
Create image

“In my view, the spurning of DID is highly connected with knowing and not knowing about child sexual abuse. Side by side with denial of childhood trauma and of severe dissociation, is an unmistakable cognizance of dissociative processes as they are embedded in our language. We regularly say things such as, "pull yourself together", "he is coming unglued", "she was beside herself", "don't fall apart", "he's not all there", "she was shattered", and so on.”

DenialDissociative Identity DisorderDissociationChild Sexual AbuseSociety DenialMental Health StigmaDissociative DisorderDdnosInvalidationDissociative States
Book:Knowing, Not-Knowing and Sort-of-Knowing
Create image

“Memory repression thrives in shame, secrecy, and shock. The shame and degradation experienced during sexual assault is profound, especially for children who have no concept of what is happening to them or why. Sexual abuse is so bizarre and horrible that the frightened child feels compelled to bury the event deep inside his or her mind.”

ShameSexual AbuseRepressionChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultRepressed MemoriesDissociative AmnesiaForgetting The PastForgetting The Pain
Book:Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse
Create image