IF YOU ARE A PARENT, SCHOOLTEACHER, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, OR MENTAL HEALTHCARE PROVIDER, Toxic Families, Violent Lives lays out what you need to know about what is causing heightened levels of childhood/adolescent mental illness, behavioral disorders, juvenile alcohol and substance abuse, gang membership, school dropouts, teen pregnancies, and pervasive crime and violence. Toxic Families, Violent Lives gets at the root of the problem. It's all about the impediments to healthy childhood/adolescent physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual, and moral development. This book identifies a range of adverse childhood experiences that are the direct result of toxic family life rooted in poor parenting practices, and a range of dysfunctional and problematic parent behavior stemming from adult mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse, obsessions, insecurities, depression, anxiety, and maladaptive coping mechanisms. Parents need to understand the importance of developing a parent-child attachment, and a child’s self-control, empathy, and moral foundation. What can parents, schoolteachers, law enforcement, and mental health professionals do? Understand the pathways and pitfalls to healthy childhood / adolescent development and take an active role in that process. This book takes a read it, understand it, and apply it approach to the problem.

IF YOU ARE A PARENT, SCHOOLTEACHER, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, or mental healthcare provider, Toxic Families, Violent Lives lays out what you need to know about what is causing heightened levels of childhood/adolescent mental illness, behavioral disorders, juvenile alcohol and substance abuse, gang membership, school dropouts, teen pregnancies, and pervasive crime and violence. Toxic Families, Violent Lives gets at the root of the problem. It's all about the impediments to healthy childhood/adolescent physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual, and moral development. This book identifies a range of adverse childhood experiences that are the direct result of toxic family life rooted in poor parenting practices, and a range of dysfunctional and problematic parent behavior stemming from adult mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse, obsessions, insecurities, depression, anxiety, and maladaptive coping mechanisms. Parents need to understand the importance of developing a parent-child attachment, and a child’s self-control, empathy, and moral foundation. What can parents, schoolteachers, law enforcement, and mental health professionals do? Understand the pathways and pitfalls to healthy childhood / adolescent development and take an active role in that process. This book takes a read it, understand it, and apply it approach to the problem.

"Surviving the Toxic Family" is a valuable book for anyone trying to recover from the devastating effects of growing up in a toxic or dysfunctional family. Drawing on engaging case studies, this book shows you how it is possible to recover from the trauma associated with a toxic family and leads you through the process to complete recovery. This book utilizes a three step process: Understanding why your family acts the way they do and why they treated you so poorly Changing the rules so that you do not have to continue being mistreated by them Taking your life back and living a life that's more authentic and genuine "Surviving The Toxic Family" promises to be a valuable tool for anyone who has a dysfunctional family, those with a loved one whom struggles with their family, and for therapists seeking to help clients from toxic families. This book provides practical hands-on strategies for surviving even the most toxic and dysfunctional families.

A warm, empathetic guide to understanding, coping with, and healing from the unique pain of sibling estrangement "Whenever I tell people that I am working on a book about sibling estrangement, they sit up a little straighter and lean in, as if I've tapped into a dark secret." Fern Schumer Chapman understands the pain of sibling estrangement firsthand. For the better part of forty years, she had nearly no relationship with her only brother, despite many attempts at reconnection. Her grief and shame were devastating and isolating. But when she tried to turn to others for help, she found that a profound stigma still surrounded estrangement, and that very little statistical and psychological research existed to help her better understand the rift that had broken up her family. So she decided to conduct her own research, interviewing psychologists and estranged siblings as well as recording the extraordinary story of her own rift with her brother--and subsequent reconciliation. Brothers, Sisters, Strangers is the result--a thoughtfully researched memoir that illuminates both the author's own story and the greater phenomenon of estrangement. Chapman helps readers work through the challenges of rebuilding a sibling relationship that seems damaged beyond repair, as well as understand when estrangement is the best option. It is at once a detailed framework for understanding sibling estrangement, a beacon of solidarity and comfort for the estranged, and a moving memoir about family trauma, addiction, grief, and recovery.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Dr. Susan Forward's Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them. When you were a child... Did your parents tell 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 frightened of your parents? Did your parents do anything to you that had to be kept secret? Now that you are 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 drawn 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 an exciting new world of self-confidence, inner strength, and emotional independence.

This “rare and compelling” (New York Magazine) bestseller examines childhood trauma and the enduring effects it has on an individual's management of repressed anger and pain. Why are many of the most successful people plagued by feelings of emptiness and alienation? This wise and profound book has provided millions of readers with an answer--and has helped them to apply it to their own lives. Far too many of us had to learn as children to hide our own feelings, needs, and memories skillfully in order to meet our parents' expectations and win their "love." Alice Miller writes, "When I used the word 'gifted' in the title, I had in mind neither children who receive high grades in school nor children talented in a special way. I simply meant all of us who have survived an abusive childhood thanks to an ability to adapt even to unspeakable cruelty by becoming numb.... Without this 'gift' offered us by nature, we would not have survived." But merely surviving is not enough. The Drama of the Gifted Child helps us to reclaim our life by discovering our own crucial needs and our own truth.

Describes how positive parental involvement deters delinquent behavior while its absence -- or worse, its negative counterpart -- fosters misconduct. Researchers conclude that children raised in supportive, affectionate, and accepting homes are less likely to become deviant.