Some basic questions and answers on inner child work

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Is inner child therapy a new thing ?

No inner child therapy and inner child work are not new things. Penny Parks was one of the first therapists (in the UK) to use this approach with survivors and later released her book  Rescuing the "Inner Child"  in 1994. ( see our book listings for other inner child books )

Does inner child work help all survivors and is it a thing i need to do to be able to recover?

Although inner child therapy / work has been shown to be of great help for many survivors, like any other therapies it does not help all survivors. In most instances, it depends on how old the child was during the abuse and to what extent disassociation, or splitting off, were used by the child in order to survive those traumas, both of which ways are very common coping strategies among children.
 
Like any other therapies etc, some people find they help immensely, while others never feel the need to talk to a therapist at all. Often the answers lay within a mixture of different therapies at different times.
 
Another way of looking at it is to compare therapies to diets. Some work better for for some, some for others. Some need to try several until they find what works for them and some people  just do not need them at all.

What forms does inner child therapy take ?

There are now several different types of inner child therapy and work. Some, like Parks therapy, take (in its simplest form) that of the child part writing about the bad things that happened, then the adult part writing back to the child to say how sorry they are and ending up in both writing a "rescue scene" together. Other forms can use drawing and writing with the non dominant hand in order for the inner child's feeling to be released easier. Some of the other types of inner child work just involve becoming more in touch with the inner child's feelings and moods thus helping that part feel less alone and safer.
  
As there is no totally one right or wrong with inner child work, we shall try to have articles by more than one person to give a wider viewpoint on the topic.

Does having an inner child mean i am MPD / DID ?.

One of the reasons that MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) was reclassified as DID (disassociative identity disorder) was due to the developments in, and understanding gained from, inner child therapy. It has become clearer in recent years that disassociation in adults, traumatized as children, covers a wide range of effects and symptoms. DID is at one end of that scale, and no disassociation at all is at the other. In-between these two end points are many other stages and effects, plus of course, people can be at different points within this range at different times. These different points can include among others :- 

• Derealisation: where you may feel as if you (and / or your surroundings) do not seem real, or experience your surroundings through a diffused light, fog or mist.
• Depersonalisation: where you may feel as if you are "outside of your body" or detached from your body, as though you are either standing alongside, above or behind it.

• For some it may just be a feeling of been younger when afraid, after a nightmare etc.

Fewer people these days are clinically diagnosed with DID these days compared to even a couple of years ago, and the understanding of the disassociative coping range is changing constantly.
 
As we have said, DID is just the top end of the scale, and having an inner child may only be an indicator that you are somewhere on that scale. Much in the same was as having a skate board, car, bus or an f15 fighter jet are all different stages on the scale of having your own transport.
 
In general, you talk to an innerchild, when you are DID you become them.

What areas of my recovery might inner child work help with ?

Inner child work has been shown during the last few years to be of benefit in several areas in the treatment of people who have suffered childhood trauma, including childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse. This is especially true of  those that used one form of disassociation or another in order to cope with the trauma at the time. It can help with understanding the feelings of guilt and shame; reducing nightmares or flashbacks; panic attacks, plus often helps with self harm issues and eating problems.

Some basic questions and answers on inner child work

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