373 SelfWork: What's Inner Child Work? And Why Do It?
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we’re going to focus on how the inner child model of therapy has been used and what exactly does it mean. Simply put (which to me is always the best way), how much does a client realize and connect with the idea that their past is influencing their present. I’ll offer a story about how that connection is made in therapy if it has not been so far. It’s definitely something that many struggle with – as they battle the belief that what happened years ago might be impacting who they think of themselves now.
The listener voicemail for today is one I somehow missed last year – and I apologize for that! Because it’s an excellent comment: How do therapists experience their own struggles with what the listener called “moral injury,” compassion fatigue and burnout? I’ll look forward to talking about my own struggles and way of trying to achieve, or I should say maintain, my own stability as a therapist.
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Vital Links:
VeryWell Mind article on inner child work
Forbes article on Internal Family Systems therapy
SelfWork Episode on Dissociative Identity Disorder with Lynn Barrett
Differences in moral injury and burnout
You can hear more about this and many other topics by listening to my podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to my website and receive my weekly newsletter including a blog post and podcast! If you’d like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome!
My book entitled Perfectly Hidden Depression is available here! Its message is specifically for those with a struggle with strong perfectionism which acts to mask underlying emotional pain. But the many self-help techniques described can be used by everyone who chooses to begin to address emotions long hidden away that are clouding and sabotaging your current life.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is self-work and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford. At self-work we discuss psychological and emotional issues and what you can do about them, |
| 0:15.3 | whether that's self-acceptance, taking action, or changing your attitude. |
| 0:19.6 | Eight years ago, I extended the walls of my practice to reach those of you who might already |
| 0:24.0 | be knowledgeable about mental health treatment but also to those of you who might |
| 0:28.1 | say you'd never darkened the door of a therapist and yet you're here I'll answer your questions while I invite you to take a few |
| 0:35.8 | minutes for your own self-work. |
| 0:39.9 | So when I asked this question he started laughing and said sarcastically, oh my mom, she'd get the biggest |
| 0:47.3 | rock she could find and she'd throw them at me and yell, you're never going to amount to anything. |
| 0:53.5 | She'd scream it at me over and over. |
| 0:56.1 | And he laughs some more. |
| 0:57.6 | And I said, after we kind of calmed down a little bit, |
| 0:59.9 | I said, now you have a grandson, right? |
| 1:02.4 | She said, right? So a grandson, right? She said, right? |
| 1:03.9 | So why don't we get him to go out in my front yard? |
| 1:07.2 | And let's pick out the biggest rocks we can find |
| 1:11.0 | and throw them at him and scream, you'll never amount to anything. |
| 1:15.0 | Today we're going to focus on how the inner child model of therapy has been |
| 1:21.0 | used and what exactly does it mean? Simply put, which to me is always |
| 1:25.4 | the best way, how much does a client realize and connect with the idea that they're passed, |
| 1:31.1 | their experiences as a child, and how much that inner child may still be hurting, |
| 1:36.0 | how much of that is accepted. |
| 1:37.8 | I'll offer a story about how that connection is made in therapy. |
... |
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