This model by Terry Real can be useful when we’re identifying behaviours that don’t work for us.
Terry Real’s model works with the idea that we are made up of different aspects of self, and that some of these aspects serve us better than others. In this model, shared by NICAM (the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioural Medicine) he shows how the adaptive child part – the part that often develops in older childhood to help us deal with the world – can affect us in adult life. People often focus on the wounded child, but according to Terry the adaptive child can be even more problematic, as she is unable to teach herself new skills.
The adaptive child model