In popular psychology and analytical psychology, the term inner child is an individual's childlike aspect. It includes what a person learned as a child, before puberty. The inner child is often conceived as a semi-independent subpersonality subordinate to the waking conscious mind. The term has therapeutic applications in counseling and health settings. The concept first became known to a broader audience through books by John Bradshaw as well as Erika Chopich and Margaret Paul.
Origins
Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung is often referenced as the originator of the concept in his divine child archetype. New Thoughtspiritual leaderEmmet Fox called it the "wonder child". The concept of the inner child was further developed by husband and wife team Vivian and Arthur Janov in Primal therapy. One method of reparenting the inner child in therapy was originated by art therapist Lucia Capacchione in 1976 and documented in her book Recovery of Your Inner Child. Using art therapy and journaling techniques, her method includes a "nurturing parent" and "protective parent" within "inner family work" to care for a person's physical, emotional, creative and spiritual needs. It also posits a "critical parent within" and provides tools for managing it. Charles Whitfield dubbed the inner child the "child within" in his book Healing the Child Within: Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families. Penny Park's book Rescuing the Inner Child provided a program for contacting and recovering the inner child. In his television shows, and in books such as Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child, John Bradshaw, a U.S. educator, pop psychology and self-help movement leader, famously used "inner child" to point to unresolved childhood experiences and the lingering dysfunctional effects of childhood dysfunction: the sum of mental-emotional memories stored in the sub-conscious from conception thru pre-puberty.
Further developments
Within the framework of psychosynthesis, the inner child is often characterized as a subpersonality or may also be seen as a central element surrounded by subpersonalities. Internal Family Systems therapy expanded the concept considerably by positing that there is not just one inner child sub-personality, but many. IFS therapy calls wounded inner child sub-personalities "exiles" because they tend to be excluded from waking thought in order to avoid/defend against the pain carried in those memories. IFS therapy has a method that aims to gain safe access to a person's exiles, witnessing the stories of their origins in childhood, and healing them.
Utilizing the Inner Child Concept to Treat Sex/Porn Addiction
More recently, , a licensed professional counselor and certified sex/porn addiction therapist, utilized the concept of the Inner Child to create a new and unique treatment method for sex and porn addiction. Called the Inner Child Recovery Process for the Treatment of Sex and Porn Addiction, Capparucci has identified nine inner children who impact an individual's addiction. These children range from the Unaffirmed and Need for Control children to the Entitled and Emotional Voided children. They represent the unresolved emotional pain points individuals suffered in their youth. Each of the nine children has its own unique core emotional triggers that are activated by negative events of the present that correlate to negative traumas of the past. In uncovering and remaining mindful of these core emotional triggers that activate their Inner Child, individuals learn to stay one-step ahead of their addiction. The program is featured in his book, , published by Black Rose Writers.
