Lori Johnstone

“Many children appear to be hard-wired to adapt to this endangering abandonment with perfectionism. A prevailing climate of danger forces the child’s superego to over-cultivate the various programs of perfectionism and endangerment listed below. Once again, the superego is the part of the psyche that learns parental rules in order to gain their acceptance.”
― Pete Walker, Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving

“Many abandoned children enter adulthood feeling that the world is a dangerous place where they are ill-equipped to defend themselves”
― Pete Walker, Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving

“I was terrified my father and Laurene might tell me at some point how insignificant I was, what a disappointment I was, sloppy and repulsive, breaking things like a baby. They already had a baby. How little I fit into the picture of family. I could see it and they'd made a mistake in allowing me to live here; I was unsure of my position in the house, and this anxiety—combined with a feeling of immense gratitude so overwhelming I thought I might burst—caused me to talk too much, to compliment too much, to say yes to whatever they asked, hoping my servile quality would ignite compassion, pity, or love.”
― Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Small Fry: A Memoir

“What I wanted, what I felt owed, was some clear place in the hierarchy of those he loved.”
― Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Small Fry