ABSTRACT
Inner Child work became popular in the last decade or so and involves the healing of painful childhood memories at a deep, psychological level; many times utilizing the reexperience of traumatic events from childhood through hypnosis, guided imagery, or other methods to facilitate healing and growth. The sequence of Inner Child work was expanded to include healing of the self and personality; letting go of unhealthy ties to real-life abusers; learning to self-parent; facing and embracing of what Carl Jung called people’s “dark side”; encouraging the adult part of people to begin to make healthy decisions, to be “grownups”; and incorporating a solid theoretical base from the counseling and psychology fields throughout the process. Emotional and psychological safety is a key issue in Inner Child Therapy. Throughout the sequence, people are taught ways to protect themselves as much as possible from the pain caused by feelings of shame and self-hatred often triggered by telling the truth about childhood abuse.
