Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life
Susan Forward / Craig Buck
overblik
Are you the child of toxic parents?
When you were a child...
• Did your parents tell you you were bad or worthless?
• Did your parents use physical pain to discipline you?
• Did you have to take care of your parents because of their problems?
• Were you often frightened of your parents?
• Did your parents do anything to you that had to be kept secret?
Now that you’re an adult...
• Do your parents still treat you as if you were a child?
• Do you have intense emotional or physical reactions after spending time with your parents?
• Do your parents control you with threats or guilt? Do they manipulate you with money?
• Do you feel that no matter what you do, it’s never good enough for your parents?
In this remarkable self-help guide, Dr. Susan Forward draws on case histories and the real-life voices of adult children of toxic parents to help you free yourself from the frustrating patterns of your relationship with your parents — and discover a new world of self-confidence, inner strength, and emotional independence.
contents
INTRODUCTION
PART 1: Toxic Parents
1. Godlike Parents
——The Myth of the Perfect Parent
2. "Just Because You Didn't Mean It Doesn't Mean It Didn't Hurt"
——The Inadequate Parents
3."Why Can't They Let Me Live My Own Life?"
——The Controllers
4. "No One in This Family Is an Alcoholic"
——The Alcoholics
5. The Bruises Are All on the Inside
——The Verbal Abusers
6. Sometimes the Bruises Are on the Outside, Too
——The Physical Abusers
7. The Ultimate Betrayal
——The Sexual Abusers
8. Why Do Parents Behave This Way?
——The Family System
PART 2: Reclaiming Your Life
9. You Don't Have to Forgive
10. "I'm a Grown-Up, Why Don't I Feel Like One?"
11. The Beginnings of Self-Definition
12. Who's Really Responsible?
13. Confrontation: The Road to Independence
14. Healing the Incest Wound
15. Breaking the Cycle
EPILOGUE Letting Go of the Struggle
Suggested Reading
