Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

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

The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
sphinx avatar reviewed on + 97 more book reviews


The new title, "Drama of The Gifted Child", is not very accurate. The original title, "Prisoners of Childhood" is the better title to describe the book. This book is not about "gifted and talented" children as Americans in the late 20th century thought about them, it is about ALL children and the fact that we are all born extremely sensitive to emotions and the world around us.

The book describes how our personalities are essentially destroyed by our parents not accepting us for who we really are and punishing us (consciously or unconsciously) for showing emotions they disapprove of. This is about how we are rewarded or punished for things we do, and how we are trained to jump through hoops and suppress our true personalities to gain approval.

I found this book to be profoundly helpful in my own journey towards emotional maturity and evolution towards true adulthood (age does not indicate whether you've grown up or not), and I highly recommend it for anyone who has reached the stage of growth where they are ready to look at their parents with honesty and objectivity instead of idolising them and giving their abusive behaviour a free pass.

5 stars.