Q&A (Inner Child Trauma Work)

In this comprehensive Q&A video, Patrick Teahan, MSW tackles some of the most frequently asked questions from his audience about inner child work and childhood trauma recovery. Drawing from over a year of accumulated viewer questions, Patrick provides detailed, practical answers that bridge the gap between understanding trauma concepts intellectually and actually doing the healing work.

Patrick begins by clarifying one of his most misunderstood concepts: holding parents accountable. He explains that this does not mean confronting toxic parents directly — which rarely goes well — but rather doing accountability work in therapy through techniques like empty chair exercises, letters to abusive parents witnessed by a therapy group, and reframing self-blame by examining how parents set their children up for the struggles they face today. This distinction is crucial for survivors who have been told they are just blaming their parents or passing the buck.

The video covers several other essential topics including what it means when a child leaves their body during abuse (dissociation as a survival mechanism), the deer-in-the-headlights affect that trauma survivors often carry without realizing it, and how to work with rage that surfaces during the healing process. Patrick explains that draining childhood rage through intentional, witnessed rage work — not just thinking about it — is what actually calms the nervous system and reduces reactivity in daily life.

One of the most powerful segments addresses what happens when the inner child and inner adult are not getting along. Patrick describes how many survivors' inner children are furious with their adult self for years of neglect, poor relationship choices, or simply not protecting them sooner. He outlines a process for clearing the air between these two parts, including redirecting the inner child's rage toward the parents who are actually responsible, and building trust slowly through small daily check-ins rather than forcing deep inner child work before the relationship is ready.

Patrick also addresses the question of whether hypervigilance is an addiction, the experience of being an empath versus being hypervigilant, and a poignant question about anxiety that strikes every afternoon — which the viewer connects to the time their father used to come home from work. This video is an essential resource for anyone engaged in inner child work who wants concrete guidance on the questions that arise when healing gets complicated.