I have a very hard time understanding the idea of having an inner child who is separate from one's adult self, outside of instances of DID. I can certainly relate to the experience of having lingering, "childish" needs and desires-- however, for myself, I don't view that as having a distinct and separate "inner child." For instance, I didn't get held or comforted or taken care of as a child and I still have deficits from that. As an adult, I still have a strong desire for affection and a desire to be taken care of. However, it is not a separate "her" who has these desires; it is "me." So, the way I view it (and the way my T views it) is that I am an adult who craves more affection in my relationships and I should work on becoming comfortable asking the people in my life for that affection. In my case (and I'm only talking about my case), it would seem regressive or counterproductive to start referring to that part of myself separately, calling it "her," and talking about "her needs." It seems more helpful to talk about my needs and come up with realistic ways of getting my needs met within the structure of my adult life. I don't think splitting my identity into parts and addressing those parts individually would be helpful for me. I feel like my identity is already integrated and singular-- so why undo that? In my case, if my T said I had an inner child and started asking me about "her"-- how old is she, what does she want, what happened to her-- to come up with answers to those questions would feel fake. Since I don't feel like I have an inner child, I would be making things up if i were to answer those questions. It would feel like, by attributing my desires to "her," I wouldn't have to take responsibility for them-- by putting them on "her," I could distance them from myself-- like I could blame "her" for them if I felt embarrassed by them. Or I could use "her" to justify engaging in childlike behaviors that were not appropriate for an adult. While sometimes I might feel I want to do that because it would make me more entitled to childlike feelings or behaviors-- I don't think that would serve me well because I'm an adult, and it would be better for me to focus on how to get my needs met as an adult. Of course, I am only citing what works for me. I am by no means saying that inner child work isn't a helpful therapeutic approach for others. From reading others' threads, it's clear that it IS helpful for a lot of people. I'm only saying that, for me, it's hard to understand. I'm also genuinely curious, for those who do inner child work in therapy, how does doing that work help with getting your needs met? How does it help improve RL relationships? How does it help curb ineffective behaviors? Is there a goal of re-integrating the self later on?