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

Wrapped in a warm, safe place with lots of protection around me. . . . If I was securely contained, I wouldn’t need to hold myself together.

Through her years of recovery she began to move beyond her identity as that little girl who was unreal and undeserving of attention. She learned that belonging didn’t depend on her efforts to please others. Now her work and way of relating to others arise from a deep and genuine well of caring. But to awaken from her trance, my mother had to stop r

In time, working both at home and in therapy, the Stone Child was dissolved. Holy Rage also receded and disappeared off the stage. Before doing this, Holy Rage asked to be acknowledged by all of the other parts.

She develops an attitude of anxious expectation regarding her needs and the world. Emotional deprivation can have the same effect. If the child is very heart-centered and needs to feel loved in each moment, but her parents withdraw their heart connection whenever they are displeased or just busy with something else, the child feels emotionally aban