In this work, Salman Akhtar looks at how many fathers unconsciously, and sometimes quite consciously, attempt to revise their own traumatized childhood by providing their children with possibilities for "a good life", of which they were deprived. The gains for the parent come from empathetic experiencing - and the pleasure of facilitating the hard path life invariably takes. Somewhere in this too, there is the narcissistic gratification that comes from the successes our children achieve.

Author Biography

Salman Akhtar, M.D., is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College, lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. Henri Parens is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia