Healing The Child Within: Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families

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(as of Dec 11, 2025 01:07:20 UTC – Details)

Dr. Whitfield provides a clear and effective introduction to the basic principles of recovery. This book is a modern classic, as fresh and useful today as it was more than a decade ago when first published. Here, frontline physician and therapist Charles Whitfield describes the process of wounding that the Child Within (True Self) experiences and shows how to differentiate the True Self from the false self. He also describes the core issues of recovery and more. Other writings on this topic have come and gone, while Healing the Child Within has remained a strong introduction to recognizing and healing from the painful effects of childhood trauma. Highly recommended by therapists and survivors of trauma.

From the Publisher

Recovering from childhood trauma and rediscovering your true self.

By conservative estimates, over fifty percent of the population have experienced childhood trauma, often in toxic family systems. In some cultures that rises to seventy, eighty, even ninety percent.

When trauma occurs in childhood, the core aspect of human consciousness – our true self – goes into hiding and is, typically, replaced with an egotistical false self.

Healing the wounds of the child within requires a recovery process that takes place in a supportive and safe environment. The process may involve age regression, journaling, individual, and group therapy. It is a hero’s journey that builds skills in sharing with safe people, getting to the truth and learning from our mistakes and from our pain.

In Healing the Child Within, Dr. Whitfield guides us through four steps to rediscovering your true self:

1. Learn to be ‘real’ by practicing being ‘real’ with safe others.

2. Identify your healthy human needs.

3. Grieve your ungrieved hurts, traumas and loses.

4. Work through your core recovery, relationship and life issues.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Health Communications, Inc.
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 1987
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 151 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0932194400
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0932194404
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #59,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #31 in Codependency (Books) #39 in Substance Abuse Recovery #837 in Personal Transformation Self-Help
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