“NEED SHAME BINDS When these needs are neglected, children are given the message that their needs are not important, and they lose… — John Bradshaw Children Copy Share Image
I try to get people thinking, to consider their pasts and presents, ultimately encouraging them and giving them the tools to embrace… — John Bradshaw Consider Copy Share Image
“SOCIETY AS COMPULSIVE AND ADDICTED Our society is highly addictive. We have sixty million sexual abuse victims. Possibly seventy-five million lives are… — John Bradshaw Addiction Copy Share Image
The foundation for our self-image is grounded in the first three years of life. It comes from our major caretaker's mirroring. — John Bradshaw Caretakers Copy Share Image
Condemning others as bad or sinful is a way to feel righteous. Such a feeling is a powerful mood alteration and can… — John Bradshaw Feelings Copy Share Image
“A person with internalized shame believes he is inherently flawed, inferior and defective.Such a feeling is so painful that defending scripts (or… — John Bradshaw Addiction Copy Share Image
“Crying when feeling angry is a common female feeling racket.” — John Bradshaw Feeling angry Copy Share Image
“When emotionally abandoned people describe their childhoods, it is always without feeling. Alice Miller writes, They recount their earliest memories without any… — John Bradshaw Childhood Copy Share Image
Many self-help books give you these neat, tidy formulas that are really illusions. They dupe people into thinking, 'Well if I can… — John Bradshaw Books Copy Share Image
“Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had… — John Bradshaw Identity Copy Share Image
“In functional families the roles are chosen and are flexible. The members have the choice of giving up the roles. In dysfunctional… — John Bradshaw Family Copy Share Image
“The job of parents is to model. Modeling includes how to be a man or woman; how to relate intimately to another… — John Bradshaw Life Copy Share Image
Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment. — John Bradshaw Children Copy Share Image
“When parents are shame-based and needy, they are unable to take over the mirroring narcissistic function for the child. Furthermore, the fact… — John Bradshaw Adult children Copy Share Image
“Healthy shame is the psychological foundation of humility. It is the source of spirituality. What I discovered was that shame as a… — John Bradshaw Health Copy Share Image
“What a perfectionistic system creates is a “how to get it right” behavioral script. In such a script one is taught how… — John Bradshaw Justice Copy Share Image
“The more I drank to relieve my shame-based loneliness and hurt, the more I felt ashamed. Shame begets shame. The cycle begins… — John Bradshaw Work harder Copy Share Image
“Anger is often blocked from conscious awareness and converted into more tolerable or family-authorized feelings, such as hurt or guilt. The person… — John Bradshaw Conscious awareness Copy Share Image
“Hell, in my opinion, is never finding your true self and never living your own life or knowing who you are. This… — John Bradshaw Living Your Own Life Copy Share Image
“SHAME-BASED MARRIAGE AND PARENTAL MODELS It is obvious that a major source of toxic shame is the family system and its multigenerational… — John Bradshaw Family Copy Share Image
Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had… — John Bradshaw Emotion Copy Share Image
“Anger is considered especially bad. Anger is one of the seven deadly sins. These sins send you to hell. In its most… — John Bradshaw Children Copy Share Image
Chronically dysfunctioning families are also delusional. Delusion is sincere denial. — John Bradshaw Delusion Copy Share Image
“Emotions are a form of energy in motion. They signal us of a loss, a threat or a satiation. Sadness is about… — John Bradshaw Anger and fear Copy Share Image
“The more dysfunctional the system, the more closed and rigid are the roles it assigns. In families that are chemically, sexually or… — John Bradshaw Family Copy Share Image
