without a mirror, we don't know who we are

Humans have something called mirror neurons that are part of the limbic brain system that is hardwired into most humans at birth (speculations as to what it's like to not have this mirroring capacity are reflected in the endless and ever-changing 'diagnoses' - labels, if you ask me - that the so-called 'mental health' industry slaps on people who appear to have come up short in the relating-with-other-people realm. My layperson's understanding of such things would count autism and Asperger's as representative examples, just for instance.)

Mirror neurons allow us to see ourselves as others see us, and to reflect them back to themselves in turn. Sort of like an endless feedback loop: We literally create each other in our own image, so to speak. An interesting spin on the old riddle, "If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear, does it make a sound?"

Without this reflection, especially from those who have access to us in our formative years, we literally can't know who we are.

So if I grew up in a family that was incapable of reflecting me back to myself as I am, my self image is like something seen in a funhouse mirror.