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

I picked this out spontaneously when I was at the library looking for psychology books about narcissism. This book isn't necessarily about that or about gifted children like the title suggests. It's more of an essay collection by psychologist Alice Miller about how childhood (especially child abuse) effects the mental health of the person growing up.

Because it is an essay collection it is not structured as well as a medical book. But at the same time the prose is rather dry and there are a ton of neverending multi-clause sentences, at least in the German version.

But it did have interesting parts for sure. I especially enjoyed the peeks behind the curtain of the relationship between therapist and their patient. How the therapist's childhood can affect how they treat their patients consciously or unconsciously. In that regard Miller has an interesting viewpoint that is not written about that often I feel like.