Pros: Addresses the root causes of chronic illness and encourages release of repressed emotions.
Cons: Some may consider the book new age, failing to recognize the important science behind it.
The Bottom Line: Everyone should read this book. For yourself, your family, their family and generations to come, this book teaches you how to create an ongoing cycle of health, success and happiness.
welleducated's Full Review: Alice Miller - The Body Never Lies: The Lingering ...
Alice Miller became famous after her first book "The Drama of the Gifted Child" (originally "Prisoners of Childhood" published in 1979 Germany) opened the eyes of the world to the long term effects of neglect and trauma during the initial years of childhood development. In "The Drama of the Gifted Child," Miller sets the foundation for understanding the developmental stages of children and the impact that *any* abuse and neglect has on the adult that child will become. Furthermore, the book shows how, even as a mature adult, the individual will spend his/her life attempting to meet those needs which were neglected. As a parent, instead of meeting his/her own child's needs, this traumatized adult will pass on and exacerbate the abuse by forcing his/her child to take on the role of the parent to meet the needs of the adult.
Miller believes that the only way to break this cycle is for the individual perpetrator to become aware of his/her own behavior. Through awareness, the individual is able to relive their own childhood traumas and identify how to meet their own needs, repairing the damage of the past. Miller believes that in knowing and understanding our own traumas, we will automatically cease to feel a compulsion to repeat them upon others.
In "The Body Never Lies," Alice Miller reiterates these concepts and follows up with evidence showing how the repression of childhood trauma leads to life long illness - BOTH mental AND physical. In fact, she cites numerous cases of famous individuals who, despite approaching the truth of their situation, failed grasp it completely and, instead, died at tragically young ages.
For the first time in decades, the US average life expectancy has dropped. Despite the best medicine in the world, we are plagued by more frequent and more difficult cases of physical and mental illness. It has become commonplace for individuals to seek the realm of a therapist or psychiatrist to heal what ails them. Yet years go by in therapy and on medication with no result. Meanwhile, the body itself is plagued with greater illness, poisoned by the toxicity of life experience. Mysterious ailments such as Fibromyalgia, ADD, Autism and Restless Leg Syndrome that seem to have no cause nor any real clear cut instigator grow in number. Miller's work suggest that these ailments are our body's only manner in which to communicate with us that something greater is wrong - that something is sick within our psyches.
In "The Body Never Lies," Alice Miller shares numerous examples and accounts showing how physical ailments correspond directly with trauma in an individual's life and, particularly, during their developmental years in childhood. She links childhood trauma, abuse and neglect with ADULT ailments. Depression, anxiety, anorexia, obesity and even cancer are shown to have connections to painful childhood experiences.
Miller insists that the only way to heal the body is to break social norms and hold parents accountable for the damage they have inflicted. She discusses societal pressures to gloss over everything from spanking to sexual abuse to emotional blackmail. This "failure to see" is rooted in the intense desire of individuals both within and outside of the health care system to confront their own feelings from childhood. Instead of blaming the adults who perpetrate the crimes, individuals attempt to blame children and genetics, placing blinders over what may be obvious to those of us who did not suffer the same traumas. Miller points out that individuals believe there is less pain in being the criminal than in being the victim, so individuals would do anything rather than acknowledge their own pain.
Miller says that this pain must be acknowledged. It is the only true way to heal and to stop the pain that affects us every day below the surface. Through the use of an "enlightened witness," individuals can explore repressed feelings from childhood and receive reaffirmation. Essentially, Miller says that when we name an evil for what it is - an "evil" - than it's power can be released and healing can begin with compassion for ourselves and the child within us to whom such compassion was previously denied.
Miller also takes one final step further, noting that, despite whatever personal experience the parental figure has endured, that the parent IS STILL TO BLAME for the damage he/she inflicts upon the child. Whether knowingly or not and despite the reason for the crime, the crime was still committed. Miller states that the parent must own full responsibility for participation in the abuse. Only when the parent is held accountable will there be potential for that individual to discover his/her own past of neglect (abuse). If the parent will not take responsibility for his or her actions, it is NOT in the best interest of the child to forgive the adult. When the parent chooses to stay in denial and repress that which is the root of their immoral behavior, the child must remove him/herself from that relationship. Maintaining a relationship would only be unhealthy and continue to undermine the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of the child (now adult).
"The Body Never Lies" encourages the unspoken voice to cry out to the rooftops, to call a spade a spade and to feel the pain, embarrassment, frustration and, most importantly, anger that the adult continues to repress. Alice Miller shows that only when the child within is allowed to speak out and be heard will the body no longer suffer from such intense and debilitating illness. In the world of physical sciences, connections have already been made that show that we use physical force to repress emotions and that longterm stress weakens the body, causing the immune system to fail and chronic illness to flourish.
Alice Miller's works help bridge the gaps between physical and psychological science - once again reaffirming how important the maintenance of one's mental and emotional health is to the health of the body.
Everyone, who wants to live life fully well into their prime, must read this book. Unleash the truth and allow both mental, emotional, spiritual and physical healing begin.
---------Check out my other Book reviews-------------
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.