I'm not an advocate of the inner child theory. We are all adults here. We walk around as wounded adults. It may sound harsh, but we don't get "do overs" and that phase of our lives, albeit not perfect, is over.

We live in the now, as responsible adults with efficacy over our own lives.

I know those who, without a diagnosis of dissociative disorders, actually do pull out parts of themselves and give them names.

I think this a wholly dangerous way to be. It separates from the present, divests responsibility, and, in my mind, delays recovery from old wounds. It puts the feeling part, and the responsibility for that healing, out of our control and onto a construct separate from us.

Without a doubt, we get to grieve our past and what we never had, but the child? That child is no more. It's us in Right here, right now. Living, working, feeling.

It's the adult that needs the help.