Twenty-one Points by Alice Miller, Ph.D. 1. The child is always innocent.
Child abuse has lifelong effects.
Society takes the side of the adult and blames the child for what has been done to him or her. The victimization of the child has historically been denied and is still being widely denied, even today. This denial has made it possible for society to ignore the devastating effects of the victimization of the child for such a long time. The child, when betrayed by society, has no choice but to repress the trauma and to idealize the abuser. Repression leads to neuroses, psychoses, psychosomatic disorders, and delinquency.