Unavailable Father

The failure of a father-daughter relationship can send a girl into adulthood convinced she is without worth, doomed to repeat this failure professionally and personally. Yet many women learn to overcome this—and each of them has a lesson to teach all those who lacked a fathers recognition and love. These lessons and the painful experiences and triumphs that led to them are the subject of The Unavailable Father.

Dr. Sarah Simms Rosenthal shares such womens intimate stories, outlines “archetypes” that can help readers identify their own patterns of behavior, and reveals how these women learned to move on. Drawing on the latest research and on insights from her own clinical practice, she weaves portraits of success rising out of failure. And she outlines five basic strategies to overcome the void—strategies that can fortify ones sense of self, challenge negative behaviors, and help banish the destructive shadow of an unavailable father.

Sarah Simms Rosenthal, Ph.D., who holds her degree in clinical social work from New York University, has a private practice in New York City. In addition, she works as an adolescent/family therapist at Phoenix House, a nonprofit drug rehabilitation program. She lives in New York City.