Healing the Child Within

Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families

By: Charles Whitfield

Narrated by: Robert Feifar

Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Have you ever heard of your inner child? Well, this is the classic book that started it all.

In 1987, Charlie Whitfield's breakthrough concept of the child within - that part of us which is truly alive, energetic, creative, and fulfilled - launched the inner child movement. Healing the Child Within describes how the inner child is lost to trauma and loss, and how by recovering it, we can heal the fear, confusion, and unhappiness of adult life.

Eighteen years and more than a million copies sold later, Healing the Child Within is a perennial selling classic in the field of psychology. And it is even more timely today than it was in 1987. Recent brain research, particularly on the effects of trauma on the brain of developing children, has supported Whitfield's intuitive understanding as a psychiatrist.

About HCI Recovery Classics: HCI's recovery backlist contains some of the most important and best-selling works in the recovery field. These books are still sought after today, selling more than 100,000 copies per year. Our new line of branded audiobooks features expanded editions of our top recovery titles, new introductions, updates on pertinent recent developments in the field, and contemporary new cover art.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1987 Charles L. Whitfield (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Dysfunction from Emotionally Absent Parents

This book helped me see and understand the dysfunction within my family. My parents were not alcoholics but the lack of emotional support, created an environment that looked like that of alcoholics. Many people don't even realize that they may have a problem. Many therapist don't address these emotional issues in their sessions. It seems like job security in the mental health field.

Don't need to know the history

What was most disappointing about Charles Whitfield’s story?

In the first parts, the author goes on and on about the history and the concepts (the leaders in the field) of the "child within." It's technical and boring. I feel like I'm reading a text book in psyche class. I want to get to the meat of it, not how it was conceptualized. I lost interest.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Robert Feifar?

Very old school narration. If the content was interesting, I wouldn't mind it that much, but with the boring introduction, it made it hard to keep focused.

An excellent guide

Surprisingly still accurate for a book written in 1987. It's an excellent guide.

I love how he stresses the importance of not rushing ourselves through the process. It's so frequent that we get stuck in our stories, stuck in our emotions, and the people we love become tired of hearing about it. Even support groups do this. We need to respect our own timing for moving on (preferably without burdening everyone though - why I am a proponent of self talk).

Through this unconditional validation, we will eventually reach an epiphany. We have a choice in deciding how we feel. .... We can let go, and it's on us.

Not a "How To."

The closest you get to, "how to," is being told to go to a therapist or a support group.
Book should be titled, "do you have a broken inner child? yes you do."

Must Read! Probably the only self help book you’ll need!

This book explains simply how we as humans work and how we can reclaim our true self and rediscover the happiness that lies within. It’s an essential when trying to understand feelings and emotions and how to grieve and work through our core issues and what the process looks like. It’s a short, easy read, with a tremendous amount of truth, information, and knowledge. Quick and to the point. I love it. Probably the only “self help” book you’ll ever need!

Some good concepts but dated

I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject and found some good concepts but nothing really new here

worth reading

this audiobook is something one needs to read repeatedly in order to absorb the information.

Child within me...

I love Charles Whitfield and all his work. I will use all of his helpful advice to move forward and cope.

Great study of the Inner Child

Excellent presentation. Enjoyed the study. Very insightful audible! Highly recommend to those on the journey.

A classic that is helpful

If you could sum up Healing the Child Within in three words, what would they be?

There are no words to explain full extent of self awareness that's had by reading or listening to this book.

Content is okay if you can cope listening to it.

This book should never have been made into an audiobook. Its content is completely lost in translation (for me at least). It contains long lists, which the narrator just reads out monotone and this becomes increasingly annoying over time. I found myself switching off as more and more lists were read out. In the end, I lost track of the content and after 3 hours, gave up entirely. Shame really, I was looking forward to it.

Very technical

This book is indeed helpful but it is very technical, for real change we need to get really dirty in order to heal our past wounds, in that sense, Home Coming by John Bradshaw is a must to grieve our hurt inner child.

It was ok :-)

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I think it was time well spent in the sense I always prefer an audiobook these days. I learnt some things for sure.

What three words best describe Robert Feifar’s voice?

I think the voice was not the best. It lacked the passion that authors themselves have. It was too advertise-like perhaps.

Any additional comments?

I've only listened to it once and will listen to it again hopefully at some point. It's been a while since i listened to it but I do remember it brought up some emotion for me.

powerful read

very helpful in identifying how far I have come and how I got there. also confirmed I'm on the right path and have already begun my journey.

Very helpful for self reflection

This book has really supported my emotional recovery, helped develop my emotional intelligence and enabled me to effectively self reflect. It has enabled me to make significant steps forward in terms of dealing with and moving on from past experiences and essentially 'heal the child within' or becoming my true self. My only issues was I found the narrative voice a little annoying.

very useful for any one in recovery. I got a lot f

I got a lot from listening to this. I would highly recommend this listing for any one in recovery

excellent book

What did you like most about Healing the Child Within?

easy to recognise categories of abuse

What did you like best about this story?

Easy listening

What does Robert Feifar bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

makes the book more interesting when mobile

Any additional comments?

Some of the refs cited were a little previous- mostly in the 1970 and 1980s would be good to have an updated version of this book citing more recent findings

Really good

Well worth a listen for anyone who's working through personal issues. Highly recommended this book.

This book is about me!

Would you consider the audio edition of Healing the Child Within to be better than the print version?

I can't compare as I have the audio only.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The lady who when she was young lived to please her mother, tiptoe around her mood swings. She spoke to me in person because I did the same too!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes please and I do it often.

Informative And Relevant

I found that there was a lot of relevant content in this book that I could relate to. It was in depth and gave recognition to the topic that it deserved. I would recommend it to those who have a limited understanding of the affects and how much work it takes to heal the inner childhood.