Inner child?

Hello—I am a student who is currently considering going to grad school in order to study psychology (specifically, with the goal of studying BPD). I am very interested in learning more about this condition and am hoping that someone can help shed some light on a few questions I have. Most of all, I’m interested in learning more about the concept of the “inner child” that many individuals with BPD often mention. If anyone can answer any of the following questions, I would appreciate it dearly...

Can you describe what having an inner child feels like? For instance, is it like a part of your self that has different traits/temperament/needs/goals/etc. from other parts of your self?

If you know anything about Schema Therapy, would you say that the “inner child” is the same concept as the “vulnerable child” schema mode described in Schema Therapy? (For information on Schema Therapy, see the following link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Es ... herapy.pdf)

[click the link that says “download full pdf]

Has anyone actually tried Schema Therapy? If so, what do you think about it? Conceptually, it seems to make a lot of sense that it would be effective due to its emphasis on mending unmet developmental needs from childhood, but I would like to find out if this is trylynas effective as it seems to me...

Don't know if you'll see this two weeks later, but I find the concept of an inner child to be interesting.

I don't have BPD, although I do have some tendencies to be emotionally unpredictable and moody here and there.

How I experience an "inner child" is connecting to the more vulnerable emotions inside of me, like feeling rejected and unlovable, which almost all of us will experience from time to time. As opposed to the emotions that tend to cover up the more vulnerable ones like anger, pseudo-stoicism, spite, jealousy, etc.

Hopefully others can chime in.

The inner child concept definitely resonates with me, I feel like there's a wounded child inside me waiting to be loved and healed. I've done inner child exercises that definitely improved my mood.