Harris convincingly rejects the research purporting to demonstrate the effects of parenting on adult personality, but I doubt that her analysis will cause any psychodynamic clinicians to modify or even re-evaluate their views. Implications for clinical practice. From a clinical perspective, it really doesn't matter if parenting causes adult neurosis. If this belief helps the patient feel less guilty, no harm is done. If this type of explanation helps patients feel that their lives make sense, this is all to the good.
Many patients have a deeply ingrained belief that their neurosis was caused by their parents.
What parents can do. Although Harris argues that parents have no influence over their child's personality, language, or culture, she suggests that there are two steps parents can take to help their children. First of all, parents can live in a neighborhood and have their child attend a school where the peer group will be a constructive rather than a destructive influence. Secondly, parents can have a good relationship with their children. That is, people behave differently in different situations.