Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up’s Guide to Getting over Narcissistic Parents

They’ve been called “parentified children.” What these millions of adults have in common is that they grew up with immature, self-absorbed parents parents who made their own children responsible for their physical and emotional well-being, who expected admiration and constant attention, and who reacted with demeaning criticism and blame when anything went wrong or their slightest need went unattended.

Psychologist and author Nina Brown has labelled the underlying process at work here the destructive narcissistic pattern (DNP). Children of the Self-Absorbed helps readers sort out what happened to them as the result of a destructive childhood living with a self-absorbed parent. Through challenging self-exploration exercises, Brown helps readers to work toward building healthy self-esteem and to develop a new repetoire of protective and coping strategies. Readers learn how to identify destructive patterns that their parents may have had, evaluate attitudes and behaviors that may be hampering their own adult relationships, deal with self-doubt and other negative feelings, and explore techniques and stragegies for rebuilding their confidence and self-esteem.