This book explores the author's upbringing with her famous father, Erik H. Erikson, and how her parents' attempts to heal their childhood trauma through his celebrity led to pain for them and for her.

Exploring the motivations for her parents, Sue Erikson Bloland takes a compassionate look at how the drive for external recognition and fame can distort attempts to heal childhood wounds and create new traumas for children in such family dynamics.

With fascinating insights into the Erikson family life, and wider lessons on trauma, this is essential reading for all psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and anyone interested in learning more about Erikson and family trauma.

Sue Erikson Bloland obtained her master’s in social work from New York University and her certificate in psychoanalysis from the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis. She has written for The Atlantic Monthly, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and Psychoanalytic Perspectives, and has lectured widely on the topic of fame. She is a practicing psychoanalyst in New York City and a faculty member at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis.