I wanted to post about a few books I've been reading that I think would be tremendously helpful for most of the members here.

First: Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, by Lindsay Gibson

This book is about understanding the effects of parents who might not be considered overtly abusive or neglectful, but were still lacking somehow. It goes into depth about how you might develop chronic feelings of loneliness, or feel trapped playing a role. It also contains a very helpful section on what it means to be an internalizer, something that is true about the majority of members on this forum.

Second: Controlling People, by Patricia Evans, and The Verbally Abusive Relationship, also by Patricia Evans

Patricia Evans has written several books about verbal abuse, all of which I would highly recommend. The author specifically points out that verbal abuse often goes unrecognized, even by therapists. She notes in at least one of her books that if you have been physically or sexually abused, it is certain that you have also been verbally abused, and that the verbal abuse may have been more harmful than the physical abuse. Even though I thought I knew a lot already about verbal abuse, these books really opened by eyes. I feel like they should be required reading for everyone, which is not something I often say.