ABSTRACT
What – broadly – has been original and radical about Miller’s work is to conceptualise many of the normal and routine practices of child-rearing as abusive and damaging, although they are not seen as such. This is reflected in the titles of her books: Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society’s Betrayal of the Child (1981); For Your Own Good: The Roots of Violence in Childhood (1987); and Breaking the Wall of Silence (1992). Another of Miller’s contributions has been her belief in the need, if therapy is to be effective, for the therapist to recognise and to bear witness to the pain of the child which inhabits the adult, and for the adult in therapy to experience the pain in order to become free of the effects of the child’s experience and suffering associated with it.
