Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers by Karyl McBRIDE, Ph.D.

BATB score: 10/10 🥹

Best as: finally a book that explains mothers, mother-daughter issues, and how daughter can work through them 👏

Best to: extremely practical with checklist to verify whether you do have a narcissistic mother and whether you have been an affected daughter

ie. Do you feel valued by your mother for what you do, rather than for who you are?

Best for: daughters who never felt that they were ever good enough for their mothers 🥹

Best quotes: “Because good girls aren’t supposed to hate their mothers, they don’t talk about these bad feelings.”

“A narcissistic mother sees her daughter, more than her son, as a reflection and extension of herself rather than as a separate person with her own identity. She puts pressure on her daughter to act and react to the world and her surroundings in the exact manner that Mom would, rather than in a way that feels right for the daughter.”

“Most damaging is that our narcissistic mother never approves of her daughter, simply for being herself, which the daughter desperately needs in order to grow into a confident woman.”

“To the Accomplishment-Oriented Mother, what you achieve in life is paramount. Success depends on what you do, not who you are. She expects you to perform at the highest possible level.”

“The high achiever becomes a “human doing” rather than a “human being” who is accepted for and comfortable just being herself.”

“Looking strong and invulnerable on the outside, may be an attempt to escape the emptiness and pain of feelings of unworthiness on the inside.”