Virtual Conference on Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma and Parent-Child Development — based on the film by Daniel Howald, “Who Is Afraid of Alice Miller?”
Sponsored by the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, IPA’s Working Groups on Parenting & Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma, & Parents First!™ Educational Network
When: December 4th, 2021 (Saturday) and December 5th, 2021 (Sunday) On both days: 9:30 am – 2:30 pm EST (NYC time)
Admission is free, but you need to register by December 3rd, 2021 to be able to participate in this conference: registration form here
“Who Is Afraid of Alice Miller?” by Daniel Howald is called “a film about the long shadow of war.” Why? Martin is beaten by his father and rejected by his mother, as she looked away. This could be an example from the bestseller “The drama of the gifted child” by psychoanalyst Alice Miller. Just Martin is not an example from a book, but Alice Miller’s son.
After Alice Miller’s death, Martin Miller embarks on a journey to finally understand the contradiction between the famous childhood trauma researcher and the destructive mother. He finally discovers what stood between him and his mother: the greatest drama of the 20th century, the Shoah, the annihilation of the Jewish people. As a young Jew, Alice Miller assumed a false identity to survive amidst the Nazis in Warsaw – and was forced to witness all the atrocities. But Alice repressed these traumatic experiences, disassociating herself from them for the rest of her life. The deeper Martin digs into his mother’s biography, the clearer it becomes: his own emotional pain is the legacy of something that he himself never experienced.
During this 2-day international conference, its participants will be able to watch the film, “Who Is Afraid of Alice Miller?” and to be a part of the discussion and the Q&A with the filmmaker Daniel Howald and with Alice Miller’s son, Martin Miller.
9:30 AM – 10 AM – Introduction 10 AM – 11:40 AM – Group Viewing of the Documentary “Who’s Afraid of Alice Miller?” 11:45 AM – 12 PM – Initial Reflections by Daniel Howald, the Movie Director 12 PM – 12:30 PM – Lunch Break 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM – Q&A with Daniel Howald and Martin Miller
DAY 2: DECEMBER 5th, SUNDAY
9:30 AM – 9:40 AM – Introduction 9:40 AM – 10 AM – Krystyna Sanderson: My Mother and Martin’s Mother 10 AM – 10:30 AM – Q&A with Krystyna Sanderson 10:35 AM – 11:35 AM – Martin Miller: Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma from a Victim’s Perspective (with translation by Gabriella Becchina) 11:40 AM – 12:10 PM – Q&A with Martin Miller 12:10 PM – 12:40 PM – Lunch Break 12:40 PM – 1 PM – Q&A with Martin Miller (continued) 1PM – 1:40 PM – Marc-André Cotton: What is at Stake with a New Documentary “Who’s Afraid of Alice Miller?” 1:45 PM – 2 PM – Q&A with Marc-André Cotton 2 PM – 2:30 PM – General Q&A and Conclusion
For more information, please write to with the subject line: “Conference on Who’s Afraid of Alice Miller”
“Who Is Afraid of Alice Miller?” by Daniel Howald is called “a film about the long shadow of war.” Why? Martin is beaten by his father and rejected by his mother, as she looked away. This could be an example from the bestseller “The drama of the gifted child” by psychoanalyst Alice Miller. Just Martin is not an example from a book, but Alice Miller’s son.
