Description
Book SynopsisHealing Your Emotional Self shows readers how to become reunited with their true self, quiet their inner critic, raise their self-esteem, and begin to love their body. It also teaches survivors how to separate emotionally from their parents and provide for themselves what they missed as a child.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part One
How Your Parents Shape Your Self-Esteem, Self-Image, and Body Image
1 Our Parents as Mirrors 9
2 The Seven Types of Negative Parental Mirrors 29
3 Your Body as a Mirror 63
4 How Mirror Therapy Works 77
Part Two
Shattering Your Distorted Parental Mirror
5 Rejecting Your Parents’ Negative Reflection 87
6 Emotionally Separating from Your Parents 104
7 Quieting and Countering Your Inner Critic 117
Part Three
Creating a New Mirror
8 Looking Deeper into the Mirror: Discovering the Real You 139
9 Providing for Yourself What You Missed as a Child 156
10 Learning to Love Your Body 175
Part Four
Specialized Help
11 If You Were Neglected, Rejected, or Abandoned: Healing the “I Am Unlovable” and “I Am Worthless” Mirrors 187
12 If You Were Overprotected or Emotionally Smothered: Healing the “I Am Nothing without My Parent” Mirror 204
13 If You Were Overly Controlled or Tyrannized: Healing the “I Am Powerless” Mirror 212
14 If You Had Overly Critical, Shaming, or Perfectionistic Parents: Healing the “I Am Bad,” “I Am Unacceptable,” and “I Am Not Good Enough” Mirrors 220
15 If You Had a Self-Absorbed or Narcissistic Parent: Healing the “I Don’t Matter” Mirror 229
16 Continuing to Heal 238
Appendix: Recommended Therapies 243
References 249
Recommended Reading 251
Index 255
