The effects of healing the inner child on woundedness and psychosocial adjustment of Filipino seminarians

• Main Author: Puthenangady, Antony
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1999
• Subjects: Healing; Wound healing; Adjustment (Psychology); Seminarians; Therapeutics; Psychotherapy; Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy; Social Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/807
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study investigates the effects of the program Healing the Inner Child among 20 Filipino seminarians within the age bracket of 18-25 years.More than just a quantitative research, it used the descriptive method to show the areas of woundedness and the effects of the program - Healing the Inner Child . The Index of Suspicion of the Adolescent Stage (Bradshaw, 1992) was administered together with the Assessment of Woundedness: Core Issues for Adolescent stage (Hormillosa, 1994) to study the areas of woundedness. The t-test for correlated samples was used for data analysis. For correlation between the Wounded Child Questionnaire (WCQ) and Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD), the Pearson r was calculated.With regard to the areas of woundedness, it was revealed in this study that identity confusion, fear and anxiety, alienation, and rebelliousness seem to be the result of the failure of conflict resolution in adolescence, while inferiority, dependency and guilt seem to have been carried over from previous stage of growth. Regarding the effects of healing, the results of the study suggested that there were qualitative changes as a result of the intervention.With regard to healing, 13 of the 20 participants reported that the whole program was very effective, notably the feeling the feelings stage wherein the original feelings associated with the childhood experiences were brought out and expressed and were processed. The rest of the participants pointed out that the affirmations, letter-writing, and meditation greatly enhanced their healing process. As hypothesized, after the intervention, there was a significant difference at p.01 level when the pretest-posttest scores of both WCQ and MPD were compared. The fourth hypothesis which stated that the significant changes in the scores of the WCQ and MPD would be stable, was not supported by the results when posttest-delayed posttest scores were compared. This indicated that the participants made further progress and that the healing took place even at delayed posttest level.Based on the results of the study, it was found that the program Healing the Inner Child (Bradshaw, 1992) is appropriate and very effective in healing woundedness, promoting psychosocial adjustment, developing positive attitudes and increasing the degree of conflict resolution among Filipino Seminarians. Furthermore, this study proves that woundedness brings about negative psychosocial adjustment. Consequently, the program Healing the Inner Child is highly recommended for the use of counselors and qualified formators.