ABSTRACT
Inner Child Therapy is done at least on two different levels: addressing the tangible issues and correcting parenting experiences through the client-therapist relationship. Shame reduction is a very significant component to early Inner Child therapy. Simple interventions such as asking clients to make eye contact during feedback can help clients feel less isolated and ashamed. For therapists to deal with their own inner child issues is imperative so that their vision of client’s issues can be as clear as possible. Therapists who have not settled their own “stuff” typically have “blind spots,” have trouble discerning whose problem is whose, and may even project their unresolved issues onto clients. When adult children enter therapy in the contemplation stage of change, they have a beginning awareness that their past is negatively affecting their adult decisions and choices. An important role for therapists is that of educator. New, accurate information activates the adult part of clients and corrects past misinformation.
