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What is an emotion you are trying to avoid?
What were you forbidden to do as a child?
How do you define failure?
When do you feel cared for?
Your TikTok For You page might be asking you some tough questions lately (the above are just a few), often calling them shadow work Shadow work magazines. For those who don’t know, it’s a mental health practice that focuses on confronting parts of ourselves and our lives that we may have unknowingly rejected out of fear, shame, guilt, and discomfort, and those parts again into our being, according to New York City-based psychiatrist Anna Yusim, MD. “Essentially, we love all parts of ourselves because what we resist persists,” she explains.
Shadow work is often incorporated into therapy sessions with licensed mental health professionals, and many will also recommend it as a form of homework to continue your self-work between appointments. It’s often used to help people process grief, shame, and cross-generational trauma, says New Jersey-based psychologist Jennifer Mullen, PsyD Beckon.
TikTok creators have shared their experiences of using shadow work to heal their inner child, learn to love themselves on a deeper level, and process their emotions in healthier ways. like dr Mullen notes, you can explore shadow work in a number of ways, such as: B. Meditation and bodywork. However, keeping a shadow journal has become the most popular practice on TikTok: it’s incredibly accessible and affordable, much like keeping a gratitude journal or documenting details of your dreams. You can also express yourself through writing and explore your subconscious. Best of all, a blank notebook and a willingness to delve into the darkest, creepiest parts of you are all you need to get started.
Meet the experts:
- Anna Yusim, MDa board-certified psychiatrist based in New York City and author of Fulfilled: How the Science of Spirituality Can Help You Live a Happier, More Meaningful Life.
- Jennifer Mullan, PsyDa New Jersey-based clinical psychologist and founder of Decolonizing Therapy, a team of mental health professionals moving the mental health paradigm away from the Eurocentric lens.
- Nottia spiritual practitioner and content creator based out of Savannah, Georgia who offers her own shadow work courses and e-books.
Where does shadow work come from?
The TikTok cycle makes old things seem like brand new trends: although the practice is having a moment in the app, the shadow work dates back to the 1930s. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung first introduced it in his 1934 article Archetypes and the collective unconscious, says dr Yusim. “He believed that part of our journey in life is to restore our wholeness, and one way to do that is through shadow work,” she explains.
From a modern clinical perspective, shadow work is a useful mental health exercise for acknowledging unfavorable parts of ourselves, says Jennifer Mullan, PsyD, a clinical psychologist from New Jersey. This could be anger, perfectionism, self-sabotage, and any kind of dependency issues – all of these could be traits of ourselves that we subconsciously dislike because we believe our families or others will not accept them, which is often brought up as part of this Exploring the inner child.