Littles often appear as children in the internal world and act and speak like children. But ARE they children? The short answer is: It depends. The longer answer is that some are and others aren’t. Let me explain.
Recall from an earlier video where I explained what alters are. Alters are neural networks in the brain. This is why they can be individually identified in brain imaging, because each network is slightly different from the others and these differences show on brain imaging. Now, many Littles are trauma-holding alters. And many trauma-holding alters are stuck in trauma-time. That is, they are unaware that time has continued beyond the time of their trauma. They continue to experience life through that lens of their trauma and the belief that the trauma is still happening. In these cases, many of the parts remain largely unchanged over time. In other words, they don’t grow up. Just as it is still trauma-time, they remain 3 or 4 or whatever age they were then.
Other Littles, however, may not be stuck in trauma-time, or they may be stuck in trauma-time only occasionally, such as when they are triggered. The rest of the time, they are pretty much oriented to the present. They are aware of what is happening at least to some extent. These parts or alters can grow, just like any of us grow from experience over time. The more aware they are of the present, the more they are likely to grow older. They may still retain many of their child-like aspects, but their abilities and thinking increase with their experiences. This explains why some Littles can drive cars or front at work.
So maybe the better question is “Are Littles stuck being children forever?” And that answer is “no, not at all.”