Healing the Inner Child: Active Imagination and Childhood Trauma

Abstract

Childhood trauma can have a substantial impact on the relationship a client has with their inner child. The concept of the inner child has been explored from various therapeutic modalities, cultures, myths, and ideologies for hundreds of years; however, there is currently a lack of research exploring how a therapist could employ Carl G. Jung’s concept of active imagination in combination with contemporary modalities to help a client rekindle the inner child relationship and cultivate the healing process from childhood trauma. This thesis utilizes a hermeneutic and heuristic approach to connect various conceptions of the inner child from different psychological perspectives, explore the concept of active imagination in the context of childhood trauma and the inner child, and convey my own healing process in personal therapy utilizing a unique formulation of active imagination.