Why care for your inner child?

The Benefits and Research Supporting Inner Child Work

Though our inner child is often the last thing on our mind, it’s constantly with us, steering our behaviors, thoughts, and decisions. Our Inner Child refers to the part of us that was hurt or abandoned in childhood, and holds the feelings, experiences, and pain of our childhood or adolescence.

Our inner child doesn’t go away just because we grow up; it carries the unmet needs, memories, and unresolved grief of our younger selves, which can show up in a lot of ways. If we don’t tend to these suppressed parts of ourselves, we may struggle in relationships, with people-pleasing, self-worth, or self-advocacy. A 2020 study found that childhood trauma that was not attended to was linked to depression, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation in adults. Inner child care helps heal the root causes of the pain or hurts we navigated in childhood. 

Signs Your Inner Child May Need Healing

• Low self-esteem, lack of confidence, or a harsh inner critic

• Difficulty setting boundaries

• Difficulty trusting self or others 

• Hard time not being productive

• Fear of abandonment

• Hypervigilance

• Overactions to small upsets

• People pleasing

• Fear of rejection

• Emotional reactivity or dysregulation 

• Feelings of unworthiness – of love, acceptance, or success

• Chronic anxiety, perfectionism, or shame

• An inability or longing to play, be creative, or be silly 

Inner child work lets us address these parts of ourselves with compassion and understanding, listening to our inner child without judgment and allowing the silenced parts of ourselves to have a voice. The act of reparenting ourselves allows us to take on the role of a wise and attentive caregiver and meet the needs of our younger selves that were unmet or neglected when we were young.