I believe that everyone carries their 'young' self inside them, regardless of their age. 

This 'young' part can have an impact on how they function as an adult if the emotions or problems remain unresolved. 

They may find that they are feeling mentally or physically exhausted, they may lack confidence, have a pattern of destructive relationships, experience feelings of worthlessness, be unable to enjoy life or hold grievances against those that caused them harm.

Some examples of issues from childhood are bullying, abuse (physical or emotional), neglect, abandonment, loss, bereavement.

Some people don't even realise that they experienced a traumatic event as a child.  They may have blocked the event from their memory or they may believe that everybody would have experienced what they did which may lead them to discount the traumatic event.


HOW CAN COUNSELLING HELP WITH CHILDHOOD ISSUES?

To me, the key to understanding if someone has unresolved childhood issues is by asking them 'How old do you feel?' when they are experiencing an emotion or describing an event. 

If the individual tells me that they are feeling young then that would suggest to me that they have unresolved issues from childhood.

If issues from Childhood are identified and the individual wishes to explore them I would start by helping them to understand the patterns of relationships and behaviours which they are currently experiencing and bring the connections to past events to their attention.

By understanding these connections and exploring the emotions behind the links the individual is able to integrate their childhood emotions and experiences into their adult self.