Abstract: The inner father is the inner subjective experience of children to the father. It is composed of the symbolic father, introjected elements of the personal father, and the father image. The concept of the inner father is presented by Krampe in 2003. The symbolic father is the paternal dimension of the symbolic family. The introjected personal father develops from experiences with the first father in the child's life and from messages from others, particularly the mother, about the father. Both of these contribute to the father image, a more complex composite derived from the symbolic father, the personal father, and the introjected father. The father image may also contain and reflect cultural attitudes and expectations about the father (Fairweather, 1981; Samuels, 1985). Krampe and Fairweather (1993) refer to the symbolic father as the sense of father; it is also called father consciousness. Because the sense of father or father consciousness is part of the human genetic endowment, it is present in the self from conception. The sense of father is an innate energy that inheres in the deepest symbolic structures of the self. A second dimension of the inner father results from the child's experience with his/her actual or personal father. It is the person of the father himself that is the critical element in the child's paternal experience. The father's qualities continue to play a central role in the child's bond with him and his/her identification with him. Paternal warmth, understanding, and accessibility appear to be key components that promote a positive relationship between father and child. The third dimension of the inner father is the father image. In Jungian tradition, the father image results from the father archetype, and from cultural expectations and personal experience with a particular father (Samuels, 1985). In Fairweather's (1981) model, the father image derives from the symbolic father (i.e., the innate sense of father), the introjected personal father, and messages from others, particularly the mother, about the personal father. The concept of the inner father offers a new paradigm for understanding the meaning of the father to the self. This theory has important implications for the clinician, family and society. Awareness of the inner father will sensitize the therapist to listen for the client's need for and grief over the lost father, which may be obscured by hurt feelings or anger, or a belief system that supports the notion of the father's irrelevance to one's life. At the interpersonal level, the inner father activates the need to belong in a drive for empathic relatedness with others that is intimate, inclusive, and directs the individual toward meaningful involvement with others, beginning in the family. The societal level of the inner father principle promotes both intrapersonal and interpersonal recognition of the importance of father for the well-being of the offspring. Awareness of the reality of the inner father and the importance of father meaning may lead to the well-being of the larger commonwealth as well as for the individual. Based on the concept of the inner father, scholars have done some empirical research in related fields. In the future, more theoretical, empirical, experimental, cross-cultural, and clinical research will need to be carried out in the field of inner father.

Key words: inner father, symbolic father, father image, father-child relationships, father presence

摘要： 内在父亲是指子女对父亲的内在的、主观的体验，由象征性父亲、内化的父亲体验和父亲意象三成分构成。本文综合回顾内在父亲三成分的理论实质及其与相关心理学理论的关系，在此基础上探讨这一理论的临床意义、家庭意义和社会意义。最后对内在父亲理论的实证研究、跨文化研究、临床干预实践与研究等进行思考和展望。

关键词: 内在父亲, 象征性父亲, 父亲意象, 父子关系, 父亲在位