{"id":17178,"date":"2017-03-23T11:00:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=17178"},"modified":"2023-03-13T12:55:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T12:55:48","slug":"what-is-the-inner-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-the-inner-child.htm","title":{"rendered":"What is the \u201cInner Child\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What<\/a>

By: Davidlohr Bueso<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

A term embraced by the self-help<\/a> and New Age movements, the \u201cinner child\u201d can seem a clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Despite it’s overuse, the idea of an ‘inner child’ is actually an important and useful concept that arises from psychotherapy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many schools of therapeutic thought<\/a> acknowledge the childlike side to our personalities that ‘the inner child’ refers to. they can call it anything from ‘the child archetype’, \u201cthe child within\u201d, the \u201cwonder child\u201d, or ‘the wounded child’.<\/p>\n

What is the inner child?<\/h2>\n

The term inner child of course does not imply that there is a little child living inside of you, or that part of you brain is delegated solely to childish thoughts!<\/p>\n

The general idea is that we all have a childlike aspect<\/em> within our unconscious mind.<\/a> The inner child can be seen as a ‘sub personality’. This is a side of your character that can take over when you are faced with a challenge. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The inner child reflects the child we once were in both his or her ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ aspects. Both our unmet needs and suppressed childhood emotions, as well as our childlike innocence, creativity, and joy, are still waiting within of us. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The repressed emotions would be all the things you were taught as a child not to feel if you wanted to be be loved.<\/strong> So if you were only offered attention when ‘good’, you might find the inner child holds rebellion, sadness, and anger. Or, if you experienced trauma or abuse, you would have learned to hide pain and fear to survive.<\/p>\n

The inner child can also hide all of the things we were taught to think about ourselves by parents, teachers, or other adults.<\/strong> This can sound like, \u201cyou better not say what you really think\u201d. \u201cDon’t try to get that promotion you just aren’t smart enough\u201d. \u201cBig boys don’t cry\u201d, or \u201csex is dirty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Why is it an important concept?<\/h2>\n
\"what

By: Internet Archive Book Images<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The idea is that accessing your inner child <\/b>allows you to find the roots of your issues as an adult.<\/p>\n

Inner child work can help with the following: <\/strong><\/p>\n