Unlearn it all and boost your mental health

A Case of Reparenting ourselves

Before we explore this New Age?form of mental health treatment, let’s look at its history:

Reparenting was developed in the late 1960s by Jacqui Schiff as a form of psychotherapy. She later termed it Total Regression Reparenting.

Schiff claimed success in curing clients with schizophrenia when she and her husband began taking sufferers into their home for treatment. It is claimed that she observed, in her clients, a childlike and desperate call for basic needs to be attended to.

Schiff’s claim of success resulted in the adoption and expansion of the controversial treatment approach. Her promising findings inspired other therapists to develop their own forms of application including time-limited-, spot-, and self-reparenting.

Today, contemporary psychologists are guiding clients and patients through the opportunity to give themselves the loving support they may not have received as a child. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they grew up in abusive or traumatic environments; even those in seemingly healthy and safe childhood environments, benefit from reparenting.

So, what is this Reparenting?

When you reparent yourself, you actively attend to the needs that were not met during childhood. A great starting point to effective reparenting is to examine your mindset under each of the areas below:

1. ?Accountability – how did your parents teach you to process your mistakes? ?
2. Discipline – did your parents model how to delay gratification and work to achieve a goal?
3. Emotional regulation – did your parents teach you how to identify feelings and how to handle them?
4. Self-awareness – how did your parents help you to understand that you have an inner world that differs from the perspective of others?
5. Reflection – did your parents teach you to link actions to consequences? How about how to understand your role in each situation?
6. Ability to be present – how did your parents react/respond to your unique emotional experiences and expressions?

To be honest, reparenting is not easy; it requires you to deal with emotional triggers that may have been buried deep inside your subconscious. Unrooted and addressed, it will give you new perspectives on who you are and how to effectively parent your children.

...the opportunity to give yourself the loving support you may not have received as a child.

Most parents are unaware that they can still attend to these needs even though they stem from childhood. Some believe it is a waste of time, while others believe that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Nonetheless, reparenting is an ultimate form of adulting; it is especially your responsibility if you’re a parent. You wouldn’t want your child to have to heal from having you as a parent, do you?

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