Summary

The book is about various manifestations of false and toxic motherly love in contemporary Poland as experienced by individuals who suffered from the trauma of living in dysfunctional families. The author focuses on the factors that can transform good motherly love into possessive one when the feelings of overprotection gain upper hand and her selfish need to subjugate adult children and enslave them mentally wins over reason and respect for their right to shape their own future.
The author also retraces how the historic, cultural and religious context of life in Poland has molded the notion of the Polish Mother (Matki Polki, the protector of Polish family, family values and tradition). He juxtaposes the instances of spurious motherly love with the teaching from the Gospel and tradition of Catholic Church and points to the cardinal sins as the seeds from which bad motherly love will inevitably sprout and ruin the family life.
The book concludes with a valuable set of questions which can be used by readers and social workers or anyone as the useful tool to assess one's relationship with his/her mother. The questions are designed to flag up all signs which lead to the toxic relationship . Along with real stories and testimonials from the individuals interviewed for the purpose of this book, the author also thought as appropriate to direct the reader to some Polish films and popular sitcoms featuring memorable tragic and comic scenes of distorted motherly love.