"The Narcissistic Family" by S. Donaldson-Pressman and R. Pressman

[NoVoice357]

"The Narcissistic Family – Diagnosis and Treatment" by Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman
Authors: Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman and Robert M. Pressman

ISBN: 0-7879-0870-3
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
First paperback edition published in 1997

Although this book is originally aimed at therapists, I found it very helpful for us, children who grew up in dysfunctional Systems, as well.  It is well-written, easy to read and to understand.

Part I begins with the characteristics of overtly and covertly narcissistic families.
Part II is about therapy with adult children of narcissistic families.

[orpheumbird]

I LOVED this book. I especially liked it because it was written for clinicians, and, I kind of felt like I could trust it more than some of the other books, which seemed more pop-psychology oriented and more easily discounted by others. It just felt validating to read about the narcissistic family in a clinical context.

I wish there was more clinical/academic studies on this topic. It needs to be taken more seriously! This is the book I recommend to others, because it explains it in a way that is very professional.

Anyway, I found the book really helpful. It was the first book I read on the topic and opened my eyes to my own situation.

[SaltwareS]

One of my breakthrough books, and I've read quite a few books.

They write how therapists had this group of clients who fit the profile of adult children of alcoholics, only their parents were not alcoholic. How puzzled therapists were by these clients.

The profile of the wealthy parents who saw their kid was struggling in school, did something about it, found a different school, then when he started to thrive they removed him from that school and he was back to struggling again.

The concept that ACONs often do not compartmentalize enough. The ACON client whose water heater broke, her check bounced and her son failed his spelling test. These events were evidence, in her words, that she was a loser. The therapist said hold on, these are separate incidences with separate solutions, and also how is a breaking water heater evidence of anything about you? I could so relate to that, it was a big a-ha.