regression therapy is a therapy approach that utilizes hypnosis. the client is hypnotized then slowly age regressed until they reach a certain unconscious point that they are seeking out to understand and take care of unconscious problems that is interfering with their life.

example Stan wants to stop smoking but everything he tried isnt working and he has no idea why smoking is so important to him, he does not have any conscious memories around how he started to smoke, he goes to a hypnotherapist who puts him under hypnosis, slowly age regresses him from age 53 down to an 8 yr old where he reaches the point where he began smoking. He finds out the reason he began smoking is because someeone forced him to do it under threat of harm. Now he understands why he has such a strong need for smoking. the hypnotist gives him a new hypnotic suggestion to wipe away that fear that if he stops smoking he will die and then age progresses him back to his normal age along with the hypnotic suggestion that he will remember why he started smoking and that its ok to quit doing that now. After Stan is brought out of hypnosis he makes a plan and succeeds in eliminating smoking from his life.

the difference between age regression therapy and the inner child -

the inner child is a feeling / emotion. it isnt literally being age regressed, working out an unconscious problem and then being progressed back like age regression therapy. in the inner child hypnosis isnt utilized and it deals with conscious memories that you already know about.

the inner child technique is closer to experiencing PTSD flashbacks. you are not really those ages you just feel those ages..

eating an apple the other day I felt like I did when I was 5 yrs old when I bit into an apple and my front tooth came out - excited because the tooth fairy was coming to leave me a quarter.

This morning I felt like I did when my dog died when I was 8 sad and like I wanted to cry.

while on my honeymoon I kept feeling panicky. Im a woman and was now married to a woman, when I was growing up you didnt marry the same sex and you were looked at as being weird,abnormal. When I was about 14 I had fallen is silent love with my best friend. when she found out I had a crush on her she called me names. while on my honeymoon I periodically experienced that same shame I felt then. I reminded myself that I was doing no wrong, I wasnt that 14 yr old any more and it is now legally acceptable in my state to love and marry the same sex.

the inner child is like the saying you are as young as you feel and as old as you feel. occasionally like with having flashbacks the feelings / emotions we felt as children come back to haunt us.