Some of the most fundamental aspects of a child’s interior life are motivated by three strong drives: the image she has of herself and how she attributes worth to that image (self-esteem); the feeling that they are loved and accepted for who they are; and the feeling that they belong and have a purpose in the context of their families and in society at large. These aspects of being human never go away, of course, though they can be twisted and malformed or repressed altogether in the lives of people who develop personality disorders; however, the degree to which they are experienced in a child’s life, the more likely the child will live a healthy adult life in the future.
