Mothers Who Can't Love
A Healing Guide for Daughters
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4.3 • 55 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
With Mothers Who Can't Love: A Healing Guide for Daughters, Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of the smash #1 bestseller Toxic Parents, offers a powerful look at the devastating impact unloving mothers have on their daughters—and provides clear, effective techniques for overcoming that painful legacy.
In more than 35 years as a therapist, Forward has worked with large numbers of women struggling to escape the emotional damage inflicted by the women who raised them. Subjected to years of criticism, competition, role-reversal, smothering control, emotional neglect and abuse, these women are plagued by anxiety and depression, relationship problems, lack of confidence, and difficulties with trust. They doubt their worth, and even their ability to love.
Forward examines the Narcissistic Mother, the Competitive Mother, the Overly Enmeshed mother, the Control Freak, Mothers who need Mothering, and mothers who abuse or fail to protect their daughters from abuse.
Filled with compelling case histories, Mothers Who Can’t Love outlines the self-help techniques Forward has developed to transform the lives of her clients, showing women how to overcome the pain of childhood and how to act in their own best interests.
Warm and compassionate, Mothers Who Can’t Love offers daughters the emotional support and tools they need to heal themselves and rebuild their confidence and self-respect.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this powerful guide, Forward (Toxic Parents) offers a lifeline for those who have suffered through a dysfunctional relationship with a parent. After defining and describing the five most common types of abusive mothers (overly enmeshed; severely narcissistic; control freak; mothers who need mothering; and those who are physically and/or emotionally abusive) Forward gets to work showing adult daughters how to address the negative beliefs that grew from an unhealthy upbringing. With empathy, she assures those who suffer that the abuse is unequivocally not their fault and offers a series of exercises designed to reveal the truth of the situation, acknowledge the pain, learn to set boundaries, and break self-defeating patterns. In a particularly sensitive area, Forward addresses the issue of incest and mothers who have been complicit in such abuse, urging incest victims to seek professional therapy. While this title is labeled as a guide for women whose mothers are unable to love, its sound advice is applicable to persons of any gender. And while readers may be overwhelmed with painful memories at some junctures an eventuality Forward expects and addresses this book should be considered required reading for anyone who had an abusive childhood.
Customer Reviews
Wish my mom could’ve had this book
I think my mom made a genuine effort not to be like her unloving mother, but she didn’t seek any guidance or education about it. She didn’t take care of herself in order to have the clarity or strength to help anyone else. She saw motherhood as martyrdom and behavior she didn’t like as betrayal. I’ve already put distance between my elderly mother and my new life, but I still got quite a bit of validation and guidance from this book. I particularly appreciated the chapter about what happens when she becomes sick, too old to care for herself, or widowed. That worries me a lot. It’s nice to have a starting point whenever that time comes. My suggestion, if there’s ever to be a follow up or amended addition is something to address mothers who abandon and then attempt to return to their families. I’ll keep an eye out for other resources, in case that’s covered elsewhere. Regardless, thank you for writing this book! It was very helpful.
Liberating
I read it from start to finish. This is not an easy book to go through... as there are moments where you may need to take a breather and step back in. I have learned to love... I have healed!