Psychotherapist Pak U ran is convinced: “love” between a mother and her daughter is often not a bright ideal, but a complicated story of guilt, expectations, and co-dependency. This book helps you see reality without illusions, better understand both sides, and find a path to liberation—not through blame, but through awareness.
PAK URAN is a psychotherapist. She earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology at Dongguk University and completed a doctoral program in counseling psychology at the University of Buddhist Studies in Seoul. She currently works as a professional counselor at the “Phian” psychological clinic. She has conducted more than 10,000 counseling sessions.
How much warmth and closeness is there in your relationship with the “universe called mom”—and can we truly call it love? Motherhood is far more complex than the familiar idealized image. Especially in the “mother—daughter” pair: the mother often sees the girl as an extension of herself, which can distort boundaries, trigger painful clashes, and even lead to a rupture.
Drawing on years of practice and stories shared by many women, South Korean psychotherapist Pak U ran presents real-life cases and explores key themes, including:
• how a mother’s attitude toward a daughter differs from her attitude toward a son;
• co-dependency, separation, and rivalry in the mother—daughter relationship;
• maternal anxiety and egocentrism;
• the daughter’s hidden desire not to be happier than her mother;
• the mother’s feelings when the child is ill;
• how family relationships “echo” in the body;
• children’s fantasies about an ideal mother;
• the father’s role in the “mother—child” system.
The dream of unconditional love, emotional self-deceptions, and guilt for being unable to live up to the image of the “ideal mother”—all of this often undermines the bond between mother and daughter. This book will help break the cycle of resentment, loosen the grip of the past, and come to a greater inner freedom.