Showing titles in Dysfunctional Families

Based on the public television series of the same name, Bradshaw On: The Family is John Bradshaw's seminal work on the dynamics of families that has sold more than a million copies since its original publication in 1988. Here, you will discover the cause of emotionally impaired families. You will learn how unhealthy rules of behavior are passed down from parents to children, and the destructive effect this process has on our society.

In this profoundly honest and examined memoir about returning to Iowa to care for her ailing parents, the star of Orange Is the New Black and bestselling author of Born with Teeth takes us on an unexpected journey of loss, betrayal, and the transcendent nature of a daughter’s love for her...

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER A heartbreaking memoir from a girl who escaped county line trafficking only to become prey to other abusers… Emily has always felt like an outsider, so when a family friend takes her under his wing she is delighted. But soon it becomes clear that his motives...

Breaking up in normal circumstances is hard enough. If you throw a narcissist into the equation, it makes it all the more difficult. If you're looking to listen to this audiobook, you're likely heartbroken and looking for some guidance, support, or understanding. As someone who has been through the hell of a narcissistic relationship, I can offer you all three, and I hope this audiobook can help you make sense of this heartbreaking time.

Traumatic Cognitive Dissonance, when understood, can be overcome. And that’s what this book is for—for you to gain the tools and information so that you’ll be able to reunite with your true sense of self and to move forward in your life with a renewed sense of joy. After all you’ve been through, you deserve it.

Read by the author, Sandra Brown. ‘Completely gripping . . . Sandra Brown found evil in the person of her own father; and she confronted it as few could have done . . . Everyone will want to read this amazing story’ – Andrew O’Hagan, author of Caledonian Road Sandra Brown was eight when...

Unlike people with carefree previous lives, I packed away my past. There are some memories labelled 'Look at', and others 'Leave well alone'... Emily Smith was held in a prison of fear for ten years. When she was four, her father left and a new man was brought into her life. He loved her, he...

Sophie Jenkins is living a happy life in the idyllic Dorset countryside when she meets Martin Brett, the man who will go on to abuse her and haunt her dreams for years to come. A momentary act of neglect leads to a horrible series of events that leaves her changed forever. Badly let down by the adults entrusted to care for her, Sophie’s life begins to spiral downward. However, Sophie’s message is ultimately one of hope and empowerment. She is in the process of rebuilding her life when fate leads her to encounter her childhood attacker once again.

Tressa Middleton made UK history when she became Britain's youngest mum in 2006 aged just 12 years and eight months. Her case provoked shock and outrage - but the truth behind the headlines was far sadder than anyone could ever have imagined. Born into a life of poverty and neglect, Tressa was forced to grow up fast when was she taken into care at just four years old. She was returned to her mother's chaotic world, but by the age of seven, she was being abused by her own brother and at 11 years old she fell pregnant with his child. For years she kept his dark secret in an attempt to hold her family together until the truth threatened to destroy her completely.

When a parent singles out a child for special privileges and attention, that child is often unaware that the relationship is unhealthy - even incestuous. As adults, these children struggle to feel validated, because while they have not been directly abused, they feel a sense of violation and crossed boundaries - usually done in the name of 'love' and 'caring'. The parent's love feels more confining than freeing, more demanding than giving, more intrusive than nurturing. Yet these children suffer from what psychologist Kenneth Adams calls The Silent Seduction.

Bestselling author and teacher Casey Watson shares the horrifying true story of Kiera Bentley, a 12-year-old girl with a deeply shocking secret she’s too young to even understand. When Casey first meets Kiera, a small slight girl who’s just lashed out at a fellow pupil in assembly, she...

I was just a child when everything changed. The kind of childhood no one sees — and no one talks about. What happened behind closed doors shaped everything that came after. For years, I carried it. Silently. Alone. Until I couldn’t anymore. This is the story of what happened… But more than that — it’s the story of what came after. The panic. The shame. The fight to rebuild a life that felt worth living.

Toxic relationships exert a power over us like few things in life can, but that doesn’t mean you have to settle for them. In fact, by simply deciding you want more from life, you can start to reclaim your worth and take action. The problem is that this is so much easier said than done. If only you could stumble across a step-by-step guide that would show you how to reclaim your life and rebuild from the ground up.

When Vicky was growing up she idolised her big brother David. Their mother worshipped the ground he walked on and as far as she was concerned, David could do no wrong. But then he betrayed little Vicky in the most shocking way imaginable. David began raping his sister. Vicky's happy home life was brutally twisted into a nightmare—he whispered threats into her ear over the kitchen table and she was crippled with fear about what he would do next. Then, at just twelve years old, Vicky discovered she was pregnant with her brother's baby.

In this bestselling psychology book, leading relationship and marriage therapist Robin Norwood reveals why we get into unhealthy relationships and how powerfully addictive they are—and shares her effective framework for finding and sustaining love.

But It’s Your Family is a remarkable account of what it means to cut ties to toxic family abuse and thrive in the aftermath. Loving someone doesn’t always mean having a relationship with them, just like forgiveness doesn’t always mean reconciliation. Reconciling, in many cases, only sets people up for more abuse. A significant part of healing comes with accepting that this is a part of life; there are some relationships that are so poisonous that they destroy one’s ability to be healthy and function best.

If you're constantly feeling on edge, forever working to appease your spouse to little avail and feel like you're constantly being chipped away at with their abusive behavior, then I can understand how emotionally shattering it feels to live this way. If, in the same breath, it breaks your heart to even consider leaving them because you can't imagine life without them, then I can understand that feeling too - because I was trauma bonded to my abusive ex.

The groundbreaking work on trauma that remains a “classic for our generation” (Bessel van der Kolk, MD, author of The Body Keeps the Score) Trauma and Recovery is the foundational text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a political frame, psychiatrist...

THE WINNER OF THE 2024 ROBINSON NEW VOICES AWARD Anyone who has experienced bullying, coercive control or narcissistic abuse may know what it is like to be fearful, anxious, angry, confused, guilt-ridden, grief-stricken, self-doubting and so much more. It can feel like a tsunami engulfing the...

When you said, “I do”, you entered marriage with high hopes, dreaming it would be supremely happy. You never intended for it to be miserable. Millions of couples are struggling in desperate marriages. But the story doesn’t have to end there. Dr. Gary Chapman writes, “I believe that in every troubled marriage, one or both partners can take positive steps that have the potential for changing the emotional climate in their marriage.”