Managing The Physical Manifestations of Childhood Trauma Through Inner Child Work and Somatic Therapies

Inner child work is an approach to trauma recovery and healing that involves building trust and connection between your present-day adult self and your inner child. It is an essential part of therapy for those who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, or any other type of trauma from early life. This approach focuses on helping survivors to gently access their feelings and memories associated with traumatic events, while also providing a safe place to express, explore and ultimately heal these wounds.

The goal of inner child work is to help survivors reconnect with their vulnerable, younger selves in order to better understand how trauma has affected them. Through understanding why they may be feeling certain emotions or acting in certain ways due to past trauma, they can begin to heal. Working with their inner child can help survivors build empathy towards themselves as well as gain insight into how connecting with the “inner child” – the part of us that carries our earliest memories and experiences of emotion, relationships, and security can help with feelings of unworthiness or feeling unlovable. Inner child work can help adults better understand their needs in the present moment by exploring how they experienced childhood traumas or difficult situations.

When beginning inner child work, it is important for survivors to be self-compassionate and not rush or force any process. A therapist can help a survivor maintain a safe space during this vulnerable journey. It is also beneficial to employ the use of creative outlets such as music, drawing, writing, or other expressive modalities to further explore feelings and memories that may have been buried deep down in the subconscious mind.

Inner child work can provide trauma survivors with an opportunity to heal from past wounds and ultimately learn how to take better care of themselves in the present moment. With courage, patience and dedication to the healing process, survivors can gain insight into their current symptoms and behaviors in order to eventually manage psychosocial challenges due to childhood traumas.

Additionally, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a well-researched trauma intervention that can be used in combination with inner child work to help survivors release the pain associated with traumatic memories that get stored in their bodies. Along with inner child work and somatic therapies, psychoeducation can also help put the pieces of the puzzle together by helping survivors
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