Search - If You Had Controlling Parents : How to Make Peace with Your Past and Take Your Place in the World

This book was so hard to read for me because it brought back so much pain and confusion from my childhood. I read it slowly, many times having to put it down for a few days or a week. I even wondered if I could/should finish it at all; was dredging up all that pain that I've tried so hard to bury worth it? It talks in the book about feeling "brain-washed" and that was how I had felt. The author states that you could not help but internalize controlling voices from your childhood, so many of your self-criticisms, fears and doubts are not yours...they are not your true voice. They are simply bad habits that can be changed. The "real you" is buried deep inside waiting to come out. I know it sounds corny but it really set me free. I had felt like I was an emotional cripple and permanently damaged goods. And the author doesn't just identify what all this was and why it happened. He goes on to tell you how to change it/fix it/overcome it. As I started to absorb what I was reading, the cobwebs started to clear. I am starting to feel like a whole person, confident and healing. I've read a lot of self-help and psychology type books in my life but they start to get old and seem the same after a while. If you can stand the emotions that well up from within when reading this book, it is so worth it!