Wiktionary
n. 1 (context psychology English) The childlike aspect of a person's psyche — typically, the personality and the memories of one's childhood — especially in context of coexisting with, and being suppressed by, an adultlike aspect of the person. 2 A metaphorical child who is the personification of this part of a person.
Wikipedia
In popular psychology and analytical psychology, inner child is our childlike aspect. It includes all that we learned and experienced as children, before puberty. The inner child denotes a semi-independent entity subordinate to the waking conscious mind.
The term has manifold therapeutic applications in counseling and holistic health settings primarily. The first comprehensive method of reparenting the Inner Child in therapy was originated by Art Therapist, Dr. Lucia Capacchione, in 1976 and documented in her book, Recovery of Your Inner Child (1991). Using art therapy and journaling techniques, her method includes a Nurturing Parent and Protective Parent within (Inner Family Work) to care for ones physical, emotional, creative and spiritual needs (her definition of the Inner Child). It also acknowledges a Critical Parent Within and provides tools for managing it. 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. In this way "inner child" refers to all of the sum of mental-emotional memories stored in the sub-conscious from conception thru pre-puberty.
The Twelve-step program recovery movement considers healing the inner child to be one of the essential stages in recovery from addiction, abuse, trauma, or post-traumatic stress disorder . In the 1970s, the inner child concept emerged alongside the clinical concept of codependency (first called Adult Children of Alcoholics Syndrome.). These topics remain very active today.
Inner Child is the second studio album by American R&B singer Shanice, released November 19, 1991 on Motown Records. The album peaked at number 13 on Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart.
The lead single " I Love Your Smile" peaked at #2 Pop and #1 R&B charts. The album also features the remake of Minnie Riperton's 1974 hit " Lovin' You" which hit #59 on the R&B Singles chart in the summer of 1992. Shanice would cover the song for a second time on her 2006 album Every Woman Dreams.
Her other two singles, " I'm Cryin''" and her duet with Johnny Gill, " Silent Prayer", also proved to be successful on the R&B charts. The album was certified Gold making it Shanice's most successful album.
The UK album version features track 14 - I Love Your Smile (Driza Bone Remix) – 4:23
"Inner Child" is the 15th episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the fifteenth episode overall. The episode was written by co-producer Brad Caleb Kane and staff writer Julia Cho and directed by filmmaker Frederick E. O. Toye. It first aired in the United States on April 7, 2009 on the Fox Broadcasting Company.
The episode relates the intersecting stories of a subterranean feral child looked after by Olivia Dunham ( Anna Torv) and the return of a serial killer from her time before joining the Fringe Division.
Usage examples of "inner child".
If you are being nourished in other ways, it is appropriate that you consider the inner child as well.
When this happens the inner child feels very negative about itself, including feeling bad, shame, fearful, and in need of addictions to numb the hurts.
So cultivate your inner housefly or cockroach, instead of your inner child.
It beat listening to David talk about his therapist and how he was dealing with his Inner Child.
What the Inner Child needed was a good spanking, and anyway she preferred to talk to adults.